Two Blondes and a Reaper
by The Fanfic Stealer
Summary: Alviss wanted an otherworlder. The Chess Pieces wanted War. The Gatekeeper brought THESE three... God help them all. Harry Potter/MAR/?/? crossover. Superpowered!Rurouni!Harry Seer!Kitsune!Luna TrueVeela!Gabrielle HP/LL/GD/Harem First Fem!Jack EVER!
1. Prologue: Through the Gate

A/N: I'm sorry, people. I have no excuse. I'm starting ANOTHER fic when I haven't updated _Amongst the Dead _in so long. It's just… I read this Naruto/MAR crossover and found myself infected with yet ANOTHER plot bunny. Last time this happened, I didn't get anything done until I issued it as a challenge. This time, I figure, fuck it! I'll just do it now and get it over with.

This fic will be a Harry Potter/MAR crossover. Harry will be taking a few pages from Himura Kenshin ("Oro!"), and will be with Luna and Gabrielle from the beginning. Why? Because Luna pwns all with her awesomeness, Gabrielle is a hot Veela loli, and they give me an excuse to expand the harem later.

Also, just to warn you now, there will be some characters that have had their genders bent… well, okay, so it's just Jack and Rolan right now, but I'm sure I'll find someone else that needs to get bent… like that Rapunzel bitch.

…But then again, she's practically bent already; flat as a board and ugly as sin, she looks enough like a guy (or rather, not enough like a girl) already. Tack on the fact that she's convinced she's God's gift to man, and I'm pretty sure I can get in some real good zingers before I kill her in a brutal and extremely messy manner.

…Anyways, please note that Harry will never, ever be the one who hits on the various women of Mar Heaven; in fact, he'll be the typical "hot-and-superpowered-but-oblivious-Harry" that is so prevalent in fanfiction. It'll usually be Gabrielle and Luna who drags a girl into their bedroom to have their wicked way with, while Harry's just there because the girls want him to give their new friend some loving.

Also note: since this is alternate-post-war, there will be times when it gets Dark, with a capital "D"; you didn't really expect the three to leave the war completely unscathed, did you?

So, with that said, enjoy, and I hope this will tide you all over as I work on _Amongst the Dead_,_ Blessed of Yggdrasil_,and_ Broken Angel_.

…Yes, you read right: I'm going to give my own challenge a shot. I'm actually done with a good bit of the first chapter… which is turning out a bit more humorous than I initially expected, despite the overall dark tone and the rape scene I already finished. All I can say is two words: Inner Sasuke. Seriously, I don't know why, but I can't take Sasuke seriously when I'm writing from his point of view.

Summary: Alviss wanted an outsider. The Chess Pieces wanted war. The Clown brought two blondes and a reaper. May God help them all.

OoOoO

_**Two Blondes and a Reaper**_

A Harry Potter/MAR crossover by The Fanfic Stealer

Prologue: Through the Gate

_A young man stands upon a glowing array of runes._

"…_It's a gamble… but…"_

_With dagger in hand, he breaks the Seal._

"…_ARM! Do my bidding!"_

_Power builds. _

_"Bring forth the Denizen…"_

_The Gate opens._

"…_OF ANOTHER WORLD!"_

_The power reaches a critical point. A blinding flash, and a pillar of light shoots off into the night sky…_

…_And so, the Wheels of Fate were turned… _

…_God help Mar Heaven…_

All things considered, Harry Potter, age twenty, had seen stranger things than a floating reaper-clown-thingy and an ornate gate in a picturesque fairy tale world that seconds ago used to be the living room of the apartment he shared with his two girlfriends. He used to be a mage, and was now something… else, so sudden changes in décor and unexpected guests didn't faze him much.

…Well, that, and Luna led them to the STRANGEST of things. Like the giant stone ring that lead to other planets. Or that depressing robot that seemed convinced the world had ended several times already. Or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack they'd found reenacting certain National Geographic scenes with a rhino in the San Diego Zoo.

Now THAT had been disturbing. Very, very disturbing. Brr…

The clown taking out a dice and rolling it, though… that had been random.

"It says three~!" the clown almost sang when the dice settled down, "Only three can come!"

"Come, Mr. Clown?" Luna Lovegood, age nineteen, wondered, "Are you talking about the place we can see beyond your gate?"

"…You… can see?" Mr. Clown asked, sounding just the slightest bit bewildered.

"_Oui_! Such a beautiful place! Is that were you are from, _mom ami_?" Gabrielle Delacour, age fifteen, asked, in such a way that most people would immediately think of many naughty, naughty things to do to her, age of consent be hanged. Seriously, that girl could really play the loli card!

…Of course, that may be because she actually WAS a loli, but Harry wasn't going to tell anybody that. Luna, too, since she absolutely LOVED the Veela's skilled tongue.

…And they couldn't forget the role-playing… "Oh, _Monsieur Instituteur_, I'll do anything to pass… ANYTHING at all…" "_Madam Institutrice_, are you going to… PUNISH this naughty little girl…? Spank her, maybe?"…

Drool…

…Ahem. Anyways, back to the story.

"…You see beyond these gates, yes? You want to run from your world, yes? Then tunnel opens for you! Walk in!"

Harry looked to his girls. The only things he held an attachment to in this world were all in this apartment. He had nothing else left.

"Hmm… a chance to have sex in new and exciting places… Oooo! I like that idea!" Luna mused, fiddling with the Deathly Hallows pendent that hung around her neck, the one that used to belong to her father, the late Xenophilius Lovegood.

"Isn't that what we do anyways, Luna?" Harry joked. He got a light slap on the shoulder for his troubles.

"Prat! It's the thought that counts! Right, Gabrielle?"

Gabrielle agreed with a nod, adding, "Oh yes, most definitely. And though I regret not seeing _ma soeur et ma niece_ one last time, I find myself being reminded that- what is that saying?- 'Opportunity waits for no one,' _oui_?" She gave a cute little smile and an innocent tilt of her head that made Harry- and undoubtedly Luna- want to throw her up against a wall and shag her until she had trouble walking, reaper-clown-thingy or not.

For his answer, Harry simply flicked his wrist, packing everything he and the girls held of value into a trunk that promptly shrunk itself and flew into his pocket. That done, he held out both of his arms. "Shall we go, miladies?" he asked, unknowingly giving them that crooked smile that turned them into puddles of randy goo every time.

The girls looped their arms around his and gave him a kiss, a girl on each cheek.

"Of course, _mom amour_!"

"Lead the way, Harry!"

Harry chuckled as they walked through the stone gates behind the reaper-clown-thingy together, leaving their world and past behind.

As soon as the trio was through the gates, it slammed shut and vanished. The Gatekeeper Clown took longer to fade away, but fade away he eventually did, taking away the inky darkness that everybody else would have seen, if there had been other people to witness the event.

All that was left was an empty apartment, looking as if nobody had lived there recently.

_The ring shatters, it's job complete._

_"The Dimension ARM's been destroyed."_

_He gazes dispassionately at what remains of a once-priceless artifact._

_"Superb. That means the summons worked."_

_He lifts his eyes to the horizon._

_"The otherworlder… is coming here!"_

…_Oh, if poor, poor Alviss only knew what he'd just done…_

OoOoO

Translations:

Oui: yes

Mon ami: my friend

Monsieur Instituteur: Sir (Male)Instructor/Teacher

Madam Institutrice: Madam (Female)Instructor/Teacher

Ma soeur: my sister

Ma niece: my niece

Et: and

Mon amour: my love

A/N: It's short, yeah, but it's just the prologue. The next chapter will probably be longer, covering up to their meeting with Babbo. Until next time!

P.S.

Thanks to frenchy and Tzeentchian Techpriest for corrections!

Review!


	2. Chapter 1: Talking Toys and Exotic Hair

A/N: What can I say? I'm on a role! Anyways, the Trio meets Dorothy, Harry meets Babbo, and we get a clue as to what happened during this alternate Second Wizarding War. Oh, and they get upgrades, because… well, that's what happened in the manga, so why mess with what works?

Also, on a side note: the robot mentioned in the last chapter is Marvin the Robot from _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_. Is ANYONE surprised that LUNA, of all people, could lead her friends to the oldest robot in the universe? I didn't think so.

And everybody should know what the stone ring that brings people to other planets is: a Stargate, from the _Stargate_ franchise. Once again, is anybody surprised Luna would be the one to find an alien artifact?

Disclaimer: I think I forgot to do this last time. If I did, then consider this the disclaimer for the prologue, this chapter, and every chapter after words- I own nothing. There. Now you can't say I didn't tell you all!

OoOoO

X

OoOoO

Chapter 1: Talking Toys and Exotic Hair Colors

_"…I will take all you hold dear, Harry Potter! Mark my words: you will beg for death before I am through with you…!"_

_"…Why would you…? Your family stands against everything these fuckers believe in…!"_

_"…I lost Mummy… and now I've lost Daddy… Harry, what do I do now…?"_

_"…Dear Merlin… how could they…? She's only twelve, damn it…!"_

_"…I wonder… what would Candice think of you now…?"_

_"…I AM DEATH, DESTROY OF WORLDS…"_

OoOoO

Harry's eyes snapped open as he awoke, automatically taking in as many details of his surroundings as he could. Lying on his back as he was, he could see the clear blue sky above him, which told him: 1) he was outside, and 2) it was daytime. He could feel grass on his back, as well as a slight incline, and a quick pulse of magic told him that, bar the occasional stump, tree, rock, and… what appeared to be a giant mushroom, he and the girls were lying on a rolling meadow.

…Or was it a field? Eh, whatever.

Determining that they were safe for the moment, Harry finally let out the groan he had been holding in- it'd been a while since he'd gone to sleep without first being tired out from a night of hot, raunchy sex, so it'd been a long time since he'd had nightmares. He flopped an arm over his eyes to block out the bright sunlight… and did not feel the semi-comforting prick of his glasses pushing into the bridge of his nose. He immediately shot up in shock; he was seeing perfectly clearly without his glasses!

Hearing a small sound from beside him (and completely forgetting the fact that his glasses has mysteriously vanished), he looked down and saw his Gabrielle, whimpering from a nightmare as she slept, curled up to his side as if to let his presence warded away her demons.

…Everybody had been effected by the war, though some more than others.

He decided to kill two birds and all that and gently shook her awake. The hand with the small-but-wicked looking dagger was caught easily, almost as if he'd done the same thing many times before.

…Again, the war effected everyone, though some more than others.

"Gabby… I can see you," he said, his voice tinged with awe.

Gabrielle blinked the rest of the sleep and nightmares away and stared quizzically at her boyfriend. "Um… _bravo, mon amour_...?" She hesitantly asked, wondering what exactly about seeing got Harry so excited.

As if he was having some sort of epiphany, Harry repeated, "No, Gabby… I. Can. See. You!" this time looking meaningfully at her. It took her a moment, but when her sleep-addled mind finally connected the dots, she gasped, sharing Harry's awe.

"Your eyes! Your glasses! How-?"

Harry was grinning. "I don't know! But I can see as clear, if not more so, as I ever could with my glasses!"

Gabrielle let out a joyous whoop as she tackled him in a hug, "Oh, this is _absolument merveilleux_, Harry!"

"Ha-hah! My eyesight is normal! No more worrying about my glasses falling off at the most inopportune times! I-" Harry stopped mid-rant, looking down at where his hands had lightly brushed against something soft and feathery as they encircled her, something that wasn't there yesterday… or whenever it was they'd gone through the gate. He blinked at what he was seeing, than blinked again just to make sure, before voicing a question that'd just popped into his head:

"Gabby? Were you aware you had wings?"

Gabrielle let go a little to look at Harry oddly. "_Cher_… I'm Veela, remember? My people have wings."

"Yes, but usually only when you transform, dear. You have a pair of wings now," Luna, just awakening from a nap that was less troubled than her fellow girlfriend's, said from her place on Harry's other side. She gave her fellow girlfriend's new appendages a look over and smiled. "And might I add, they look absolutely beautiful on you."

Gabrielle twisted her head around as far as it would go (which was actually slightly more than a normal human, due to her Veela ancestry) to see a small wing (relative to her- it was about the size of a hubcap, maybe smaller) of pure white feathers, sticking out just over the back-dip of her sundress. Twisting her head in the opposite direction to see over her other shoulder revealed the wing's companion. She spread them, and gave a cute little pout. Both Harry and Luna had to restrain themselves from taking her right then and there.

"Mou… not very big, are-" As if responding to her thoughts, her new wings suddenly expanded to three or four times their previous size. "-they… oh my. That is… very convenient, _non_?" she mused, before shrinking her wings back to their previous size with a thought- her specific thought had been for them to shrink to their smallest size, but it looked like this WAS the smallest it could go, apparently.

"Be thankful," Luna groused, "at least your wings can shrink. None of my new appendages can retract in any way!" She crossed her arms and huffed. Their collective states of mind switched as it was now Harry and GABRIELLE who wanted to ravish LUNA- disgruntled Luna was damn sexy.

Their brief moment of lust over (or rather, fought down for now; they were ready to go anytime, and more or less anywhere), Harry and Gabrielle looked over Luna to see what she was talking about… and gaped in awe. Sticking out from under her skirt was a single, silver, fluffy fox tail, with matching fox ears where her ears used to be. They gave her already-ethereal air even more mystique.

"Luna…" Gabrielle began as she collected her wits, "You look… _magnifique_! Like… like…I don't think I've ever seen anything like it!" Harry just nodded in agreement, still speechless- though they had been perfect before, he found himself now utterly entranced by his girlfriends' new features. He had a sudden need to explore each new inch; he wanted to see how many new spots he could find that would drive them wild. Unfortunately, they were out in the open still, so he'd have to wait. But soon, soon…

"Harry? _Mon amour_? Why are you chuckling malevolently and rubbing your hands in glee?"

Harry shook himself back into reality and blinked, seeing both girls looking at him oddly. "Oh, no reason, love, just… thinking about some… plans for later… mwahahaha…"

"I know that laugh! That's your 'I plan to do naughty, naughty things' laugh!" Luna crowed with a grin as she started to bounce in place, "Can you tell us what you're planning to do to your innocent little girls, Harry? Please?"

"_Oui_! _S'il vous plait, mon _'Arry?" Gabrielle jumped in, bringing her French accent back just a tad bit for effect- she knew the effect her using the accent had on people, and Harry- sweet, kind Harry that took everything she was in stride and never asked her to be anything other than herself- was, by no means, immune to its effects.

…Also, as an interesting side note, the accent sometimes came back when she was experiencing intense emotions, like when she was noticeably nervous… or really randy. Not that her lovers cared- when she confessed this to them, they'd confessed in turn that they found it both absolutely adorable and drop dead sexy.

The night that followed had been incredible.

…Not that it usually wasn't incredible, but that time had been much more… intense.

…Very, very… intense…

…Mmmm…

…Ahem. Moving on.

"Nope. Gotta wait 'til later, love," Harry said, resolutely shaking his head.

"Please…?" "…'Arry?" They both wheedled in unison.

"No," Harry bit out, his will running out fast in the face of his two extremely hot girlfriends on their knees (which, despite him still sitting down, didn't lose any of its effects whatsoever), begging in stereo. He hoped they let it drop soon; he was only a man, and he wasn't going to be able to take much more of-

"Pretty please, Harry?" "…Wiz ze sherry on top?" They simultaneously hit him with puppy dog eyes, all the more effective because of Luna's slightly-larger-than-normal silver-grey eyes and Gabrielle's deadly combination of doe-like sky-blue eyes and her almighty "Aura of Lolicon."

Oo LEMON WARNING oO

"…Fuck it," Harry muttered as his will, usually as strong as iron in the face of insurmountable odds, broke like a cheap eggshell. He wandlessly threw up a obscuration barrier and, as soon as the half-dome finished enclosing their little bit of grassy meadow/field/who-gave-a-fuck, tackled Gabrielle to the ground. She squealed in delight as she went down, which turned into a breathy moan as Harry started pulling down the straps of her sundress and kissing his way down to that one sweet spot at the junction of her shoulder and neck.

Luna, not wanting to miss out on any the fun (like she could; as soon as Gabrielle couldn't go anymore, Harry would have turned right around and dragged her down for some lovin') whooped and quickly joined the already-writhing two-person pile, unbuttoning her short-but-modest skirt as she did so. She was just in time to join Harry in playing with the younger blonde's breasts, each of them lavishing attention on a pink nipple that capped a pert B-cup. They soon had her mewling in need.

Harry's hand, meanwhile, had not been idle- it had creeped down, then up her sundress, stopping at the hem of her soaked panties. "Panties today, Gabby?" he asked, letting go of her nipple and looking up at her flushed face, "I'm surprised- you usually go without."

Since Luna hadn't stopped her ministrations, Gabrielle's reply came in between pants. "Vell… you… know vhat… zey say about… life, yes? Variety… is ze… spice… and all zat…"

"Harry, less talking, more trying your best to make her beg!" Luna interrupted, before letting her hand take her mouth's former place as she proceeded to try her best to shove her tongue down the Veela's throat.

Harry chuckled at their antics as he returned to her nipple, his hand pulling down her panties with practiced ease. His thumb immediately went for the little button that was already peaking out of its hood , and Gabrielle gasped into Luna's mouth as he made contact and started gently rubbing. That gasp became a loud moan when that rubbing was soon joined with two of his fingers pumping into her.

Moan turned into to a strangled scream and an iron grip on his hair when, leaving her nipple (which was quickly taken up by Luna's mouth- Luna had finally let Gabrielle come up for air), he slowly lifted the hem of her dress higher and kissed his way down to her cute little outie bellybutton, then past that to where his thumb was, replacing it with his lips and some gentle suction. She screamed again, this time longer and louder, when she came soon afterwards, her orgasm prolonged as Harry removed his fingers and replaced them with his tongue in an effort to catch all her juices. He raised his head up when she finally released his hair, licking his lips to catch any juices that might had escaped his eager mouth.

"_Absolument… belle_," he whispered as he gazed upon her heaving bosom and the sundress now raised wantonly above her petite waist as well as lowered past her breast, leaving it nothing more than a belt with nothing to hold up.

"_Tais…toi_! Your cock… in me… right now!" Gabrielle growled out between pants as she tried to catch her breath.

Harry chuckled as he quickly took off his cloak, which was followed by his button-down shirt, tie, and shoes in short order. He took the time to chirp out a cheeky "Yes ma'am! Whatever you say!" and to give her a salute that earned him a growl from the slightly (slightly?) frustrated girl. He quickly had his belt undone and his pants around off, followed by his boxers, leaving him naked and revealing his considerable length (and girth! Can't forget just how deliciously thick he was, too!). Gabrielle licked her lips at the sight, spreading her legs a little wider in anticipation. Harry wasted no time positioning his rod at her entrance, but when she tried to thrust herself onto him, he pulled back. She whined in protest.

"Arry…!"

"Nuh uh uh!" Harry teased, pushing the tip of his cock into her wet folds, then withdrew it and rubbed it along her outer lips and around her clit, making her squirm. He shivered as a jolt after jolt of pleasure went through him; he so wanted to just thrust into her and give her what they both wanted, but Luna had told him earlier to make the younger blonde beg, and he didn't plan on disappointing. As sexy as disgruntled Luna was, unless it was in playful jest, it was never a good thing if YOU were the reason why she was disgruntled. "Tell me, _ma cheri_, what do you want?" he purred out, still teasing her with the tip of his cock.

She tried to get him in her again, only to be held in place by Luna, who had, without her even noticing, moved from her side and behind her head. Gabrielle found her head resting on her fellow girlfriend's lap, her arms held back and her new wings lifted off the grass by the way Luna's arms had slipped under hers to once again to play with her breasts. It all added to her torment. "_S'il vous plait_, _mon amour_! Please, 'Arry! I-" she begged, only to be cut off by Harry's lip.

"What do you want, Gabby?" he asked again when he released the tongue he'd been sucking on, repeatedly slipping the tip of his cock just past her outer lips before withdrawing again, a not-quite thrusting that was driving her mad.

She whimpered. "I… I…"

"Yes, Gabby?" Thrust-thrust-thrust-thru-

"_Le condamner tout_! Fine! I vant you to fuck me! Is that vhat you vant to hear? I vant you to pound me into the ground until I am bowlegged!" She screamed at her tormentor, finally breaking.

Harry smirked. "Your wish is my command," he said, before plunging into her hard and without warning. The sudden pleasure-pain made her scream again, this time wordlessly and in release, and she continued screaming as Harry pounded right through her orgasm. She was deliciously tight and wet and hot, and thanks to all the teasing from earlier, he could already feel himself close to edge.

Gabrielle, still unable to thrust back thanks to Luna holding her down, started screaming out gibberish (or insanely fast French, he couldn't tell which), with the occasional "fuck me", "harder", and "don't stop." Figuring out the rest was probably the along those same lines, he obliged, quickening his pace and tilting her pelvis to change the angle a bit. That last part apparently let him hit a particularly good spot, because only two strokes later she was making a keening wail in the back of her throat as she came hard, squirting her juices up onto Harry's abs and squeezing him until he went over the edge with her and bathed her insides with cum. They both collapsed bonelessly, Harry seeing stars while Gabrielle not really seeing anything, her last orgasm having shut down her brain, leaving her with nothing but a large, goofy, dazed smile and a bit of drool running down her chin

Meanwhile, Luna was getting more and more randy, having had Gabrielle's head bumping at her most intimate of places for the past fifteen minutes; every time Harry thrust into the delectable Veela, said Veela's head would come up and lightly smack her slightly protruding clit through her now soaking panties. That, along with watching the extremely erotic sight of Gabby's pounding up close and personal, made it so that, when Harry finally regained enough of his senses to pull out, Luna was immediately there, replacing his cock with her tongue so that she could catch the _l'essence de Gabrielle_-flavored spunk that was already beginning to dribble out. Gabrielle herself could only make a pitiful, but still damn sexy, mewling sound as her over-sensitized flesh was further stimulated, tuckered out and almost unconscious as she was.

Harry, having been shoved away by Luna in her rush to get in on the action, watched the highly erotic sight of one blonde going down on another. His cock, having never completely gone down despite the rather sizable load he had just released, returned to full mast at the sight. He grinned evilly as he turned his attention to Luna's upraised bum, her new appendage lazily swishing above it- Luna had been awfully rude, pushing him away like that… maybe a little lesson?

Luna, distracted by the treat she was trying to completely extract from her fellow girlfriend, didn't notice as Harry moved behind her. She did notice, though, when he called her name.

"Luna?"

Luna gulped down her current mouthful before answering. "Yes, HarRYYYYYYYYYY!"

Harry leaned over her, being careful to avoid crushing her tail, and without warning thrust into her tight rosebud, bringing his hands up to grab the round, firm-yet-slightly-soft C-cups that looked larger than they really were on her willowy frame. Her panties had been ripped off along with what was left of her blouse, the remains tossed carelessly aside. The lubrication still left on his cock from Gabrielle made sure it was more pleasurable than painful, though the suddenness of it made sure there was still with a degree of pain… not that Luna minded- she was unashamedly an ass girl.

Harry leaned over further, until his mouth was just by her ear. He tweaked her nipples, a slightly rosier pink than Gabrielle's. "You've been a baaaaaaad girl, Luna…" he drawled as he began thrusting, "…And bad girls need to be… punished."

Luna's only answer was a whimper as, with a firm slap on her ass, he quickly upped his pace and the power behind his thrusts to just short of "brutal."

Oo LEMON END oO

OoOoO

Three more hours (or so) and several mind-blowing orgasms (apiece) later, the Trio was walking through the meadows, the evidence from their activities either gently _tergeo_-ed away or, in the case of Luna's blouse, repaired with appropriate modifications. The only indications left of their naughty deeds were the perpetual grins on all of their faces and the funny way the girls were walking.

After he'd finished pounding Luna into a puddle of satisfied goo, he'd done as he'd promised himself and explored each inch of his girls' new features. He'd been happy to discover that, Luna's tail was sensitive, especially the base, which was sensitive to the point where a good lick, nibble, or rub could wind her up like nobody's business… which wasn't all that hard, actually, since both she and Gabrielle usually were ready just about anytime, anywhere. Several nips, licks, and rubs were enough to give her a soft orgasm. Doing the same where Gabrielle's wings met her back got much the same result.

Also, gently stroking Gabrielle's wings and Luna's tail, along with scratching Luna's now-furry ears, had a calming effect, similar to how both girls got whenever Harry brushed out their hair: like the war never happened, and everything was alright with the world.

He was also pleasantly surprised to find that 20/20 eyesight wasn't the only thing he'd gained- apparently his stamina and endurance had increased by a substantial amount as well, judging by how, after he'd brought both Luna and himself to completion, he'd found himself rearing to go only after a short rest, much shorter than it used to be. Both of the girls, when they had regained enough of their wits to realize what had happened, had been eager to test his new limits. So far, he'd been able to go nonstop for an hour straight before needing a rest that was longer than five minutes. Needless to say, the girls were delighted.

…And slightly goofy.

…And bowlegged, just like Gabrielle wanted.

Of course, he had to wonder about these changes, though- the war had taught him never to take things at face value. What had caused them? Were they permanent? Was this all that had changed about them? Were there going to be anymore changes?

…There were too many questions and not enough answers, and he wasn't exactly a fan of going in half-cocked while missing critical information, especially after Sirius. They needed to find a spot to stay as soon as possible, so that they could work on fixing their lack of in-

"Hallo! Young ones!"

Harry, as well as the girls, both of whom had been in a blissful daze, were shaken from their thoughts (or own little worlds, in the case of the girls) by what sounded like an old man. Looking around, though, didn't reveal a single human within sight. "Oro, is anybody there?" Harry asked the open air, instinctively slipping into the persona he'd developed after starting his wanderings around the world.

He'd become too famous- or rather, infamous- after the war, to both magicals and non-magicals thanks to a rather ungrateful Ministry of Magic. But instead of disguising himself using the traditional ways, he'd chosen to let his Slytherin side shine through and… well, "changed" was too strong of a word for what he'd done to his personality, but he'd started letting the childish wonder he felt at finally being allowed to control his own life shine through, giving himself a "harmless wanderer" air that, along with Luna's "Quirky-in-a-good-way-ness" and Gabrielle's "Aura of Lolicon", disarmed everybody but the blackest of hearts the trio had ever encountered. The girls had once told him he actually looked adorably clueless when he was the "Rurouni", a name they took from the fictional character he'd used to fine-tune his persona.

…What could he say? _Rurouni Kenshin_ was fucking awesome, and he'd been absolutely hooked when he first read it as part of his attempt to finally have some kind of childhood.

"Down here!" "Here!"

They looked down as suggested, and blinked as one, trying to comprehend what they were seeing.

"Harry?"

"Yes, Gabby?"

"Um… is that a talking rock I'm seeing?"

"Oro… this one believes it is."

"With a mustache?"

"Yes."

"And a little rock next to him?"

"This one thinks so, yes."

"…Luna?"

Luna shrugged. "Don't look at me. This was never in any of Daddy's books."

The talking mustachioed rock and his little rock friend, for apparently that was what it was, started getting uncomfortable with all the bewildered staring, so decided to get their attention again by clearing his throat. By their collective starts, it seemed to have worked.

"How sunny you three were at first! Has something joyous occurred?" "Really joyous?"

Harry blushed at the question, snippets of the three hours plus of hot sex they'd just had swimming through his head. The girls just giggled.

"Oro, you… could say that, yes."

"Ah… quite long since we've seen a human, indeed. And may we ask you a favor? The sun's rays are so harsh today, and the waters of the brook would be so soothing…"

"Of course! This one would be glad to do it for you!" Harry said, giving them that crooked little smile of his before walking over to the afore mentioned brook. Once again, he was completely oblivious to the blushing and swooning of the two girls that followed him; seriously, if he ever realized what that smile of his did to girls…

OoOoO

Meanwhile, a pink-haired girl looked down from her place above and several paces behind our heroes, hovering upon what could only be described as the product of a mating between a broom and a halberd. She'd been spying on the three people below her for a while now, ever since they suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a field. Just by observing them she'd already learned several interesting things.

First of all, all three had higher-than-normal stamina, judging by how they'd walked at a steady, yet quick pace across the rolling meadows below her for quite a distance and weren't even close to tired. Hell, they weren't even winded!

Second, she'd seen a lot of societies over the course of her travels, but she'd never seen a werecreature like the older blonde, nor had she ever seen anything like the younger, winged girl before. Whatever they were, though, their magical reserves were high, almost as high as herself. The older one might have looked a little frail- an image not helped by the plain white blouse and red skirt combo she was wearing- and the younger might have looked… well, young, especially in that innocent little sundress of hers, but they were obviously not to be messed with.

And finally, there was the man. Strange as those two were, the man they were with was the real curiosity: despite the moderately warm day out and the long walk he'd just taken, he was wearing what looked like a heavy black cloak and, as mentioned before, wasn't even sweating. It was like he didn't feel anything at all!

And then there was his magic… or rather, his lack thereof. Whereas his two companions were relatively powerful, and the normal, everyday person would have close to nothing, he… well, the best she could put it was that he was LESS than nothing. To her magical senses, he was like a hole in the middle of the world, and the ambient magic around him just seem to just flow right through him, ignoring him completely. Truth be told, she found it a little unsettling… and a lot interesting. What secrets was he hiding, she wondered…

She glanced down at her hand, where several ARMs were worn, and smirked as she got an idea. She took off one of her ARMs, dropped it, and activated it.

'Let's find out what you're capable of, shall we…? '

OoOoO

"Aaaaah! Lovely, lovely! You three have restored us, indeed!" "Lovely!" The mustachioed rock and his little companion praised as Harry, Luna, and Gabrielle sprinkled the water they'd collected onto them.

"It was no problem, Mr. Rock and friend!" Luna answered, giving them a warm smile.

"_Oui_, we were happy to help, _Monsieur Galet_, _Junior de Galet_!" Gabrielle added, giving them her own sunny smile.

…Did those rocks just blush?

The mustachioed rock chuckled. "But what brings you here, young one? Whence came you?" he asked.

Harry looked to the girls beside him, who looked back, their silent communications going something along the lines of:

'Well? What should we say?'

'Play it safe, I think.'

'Yes, I agree. We want a low profile.'

'Agreed. The usual wanderers story?'

'Yes.'

'Yes.'

It was near instantaneous, so the mustachioed rock didn't notice any sort of break when Harry answered, "We have no home, I'm afraid. We are travelers, that we are, and we go where the wind takes us."

"Oh? Really? All three of you?"

Harry and the girls nodded.

"Well, now, then you might want to know that-"

BOOM!

The trio quickly spun around at the sudden noise, and was greeted with the sight of a strange, armored, silver golem, its arms, legs, and pelvis looking like they were made from those mundane magnet toys that had recently become popular back ho-… in their old world. Almost like it knew they had seen it, it suddenly charged at them, surprising them with its speed.

"What in the-?"

"Run, young one!"

But the warning came too late, and the golem was upon them. The rocks winched, afraid their new friends had been hurt.

They needn't had feared.

Harry, on instinct, had reached out and grabbed onto the golem. Surprisingly, it had halted its charge.

"Oro… you know, that wasn't very nice, that it wasn't," he admonished it, not quite caring if it understood or not, before, with strength that surprised even himself, slammed it into the ground hard enough for it to bounce back up, then gave it a roundhouse kick as it was still coming back down that sent it into- and through- a nearby tree. The group watched in shock as the tree lost its war with gravity and toppled to the ground, though not on the golem.

"…A human…" '…protecting us?'

"…Harry?"

"…_Mon amour_…?"

"What… was that?"

Harry stared at his hands- did his strength increase too? Once again, what else had changed about them?

Nearby clapping reminded them of reality, and the group turned their attention to the source to see a rather attractive girl, younger than Harry and Luna but older than Gabrielle, perched atop a nearby stone column. She had her long, pink hair in two braids, and next to her was a strange-looking silver broom, topped with a ruby-red sphere. It was obviously for more than sweeping… flying, maybe? Perhaps a channel for magic? She was certainly had enough power they could barely sense through her mask.

"Very impressive~!" she called out from her perch, before hopping down to the ground. The French-maid-like dress she wore fluttered up as she dropped, exposing a good bit of creamy thighs and long, smooth legs. Gabrielle and Luna stared at said legs, took in the rest of her figure, simultaneously turned to each other, and grinned lecherously. Harry, as par character, was completely oblivious to this exchange.

"Oro, and who might you be?" he asked their new guest, giving her that smile of his. At the girl's sudden blush, Luna and Gabrielle's lecherous grins only grew. They'd been wanting to… expand their family for a while now, but thanks to the Ministry sending out warrants for their arrests to just about every major government in their old world, both magical and non-magical, they just couldn't- anybody they invited could turn them in. But since they were in a literal whole new world now… well, the saying "the world is our oyster" comes to mind...

The pink-haired girl stared at the man before her and tried to fight down her sudden blush. He hadn't looked this hot from above! Those brilliant green eyes, that adorably messy black hair he had in a short ponytail, that smile… drool. It was a pity he had that cloak on, because, even if she could see a bit inside it, it was not enough to tell if his body looked anything like his face!

But that wasn't a problem with the two girls with him: Both curvy in all the right places, and they knew how to make those outfits of theirs look good, despite (or maybe because of?) their simplicity. And both had an air about them, too: the older girl was more otherworldly, with her silver fox ears and lazily waving tail both contrasting with and blending in with her shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair, whereas the younger was more… well… innocent, with her angel-like wings and her back-length, silvery-gold hair, but with a underlying current of something so completely sensual that it was effecting even her, and she was pretty sure she was straight! Really, it was enough to make a girl jealous!

She cleared her throat to give herself enough time to collect herself, then gave her own smile in return. "My name is Dorothy! Please to meet you~!" she chirped.

"D-Dorothy?" the mustachioed rock stammered, immediately recognizing who it was that stood before them. Pity nobody noticed its sudden anxiety.

She moved over to the downed golem from earlier and examined it. "Hmm… it's a bit banged up, but I think it's still in working order…" she assessed, before holding her hand over it. It glowed, then turned back into a ring with a poof. Harry and the girls raised an eyebrow at what they'd just witnessed as Dorothy bent to pick up the ring, "…True, it was the weakest of all my ARMs… but still!" She put the ring back in its place on her finger. "What did you use?"

Harry tilted his head as he studied the girl that had introduced herself as Dorothy. "Oro… what do you me-?" he asked, but was interrupted by the mustachioed rock behind him.

"RUN! That's an ARM! And that woman-!"

While Harry had been studying Dorothy (and getting shouted at by the rock), she'd been doing the exact same thing, walking over to get a closer look at the places where people usually had ARMs on their persons: their hands, around their neck, and hooked to their pants at the waistbands. She was surprised to find nothing.

"That's odd. No ARM," she muttered, perplexed.

"Oro, just what IS an ARM?" Harry tried again. This time he wasn't interrupted.

"What's an ARM?" she repeated, seemingly genuinely surprised he had asked such a question, "What tree did you fall out of?"

"Oh… so I take it these… ARMs are common to these lands?" Harry asked, seamlessly recovering from his faux pas.

"Yes. You said 'these lands'… Are you travelers?"

The trio nodded in eerie unison.

"I don't know of any countries that don't use ARMs, but… I suppose you can call it 'magic,'" she explained, "Each ARM is an accessory with unique powers engraved into it mystically."

Harry processed this new information and immediately latched onto the important parts, just like he was taught during the war. "'Each'? Then I take it there are more of these ARMs than your golem?"

Dorothy blinked at the answer. "Erm… yes. You really don't know?" She looked him over once more. 'Indeed… he isn't wearing one,' she realized. Then a bigger realization occurred to her: '…Then he flung it with his own strength? But not even someone twice his size can do that!' She unconsciously went into a classic thinking pose: one hand rubbing the chin while the other supported it from the bottom. She continued her ponderings. 'I just assumed he must have one…! I should know not to assume… wait.' She snapped her fingers as she suddenly got an idea, her delicate features taking on a sly look briefly before she was able to school herself.

She wasn't fast enough, though, and the trio noticed, but didn't comment; this girl might have ulterior motives, but she was probably the only guide to this new world they were going to find for a while yet (well, one that could move under her own power, at any rate), so might as well let her do her thing and take care of whatever might come when it comes.

With the trio looking on, she held up her hand and called out: "Weapon ARM: Ring Dagger!" A ring on the hand glowed monetarily before vanishing, replaced with a simple, but finely crafted dagger that she caught with practiced ease. A thought, and it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced with a ring on her finger once more.

"Would you like this?" she asked, "As travelers, you should know the value of having a dagger on you at all times. Come with me, and it's yours~!"

The trio looked to each other and shared another silent conversation:

'What do you think, girls? She has something planned. This might be a trap, but she has no reason to.'

'Yes. By the cut of her dress and all those… ARMs, she has no need for money.'

'Could she just want to mug us for the thrill of it?'

'Possible, but the chance at getting one of these artifacts to study is too good to pass up.'

'"Opportunity waits for no one" once again, eh, _mon amour_?'

'True. And we are hardly defenseless.'

'So, are we agreed, then?'

'Yes.'

'Yes.'

Decision made, Harry nodded for the group and gave her a small, disarming smile. The girls grinned at Dorothy's returned blush- heh heh heh…soon, my pretty, soon…

"Alright then, we'll follow you, that we will," Harry agreed.

"Besides, it's not like we're going anywhere specifically, nor are we on a schedule, so what do we have to lose?" Luna added cheekily. Gabrielle giggled at her fellow girlfriend's comment.

Harry and Gabrielle turned to the two rocks and bid them goodbye before following their new guide, much to said rocks' protest.

"Young ones, wait!" the mustachioed rock called after them, "You gave us water! You shielded us! We won't let you-"

"Do not worry, Mr. Rock. We know what we're doing," Luna cut it off, having stayed behind for a bit. She leaned over and gave the rock a hug, whispering as she got close where its ear would be if it were a human head of proportionate size, "We may not have ARMs, but that does not mean we are not armed." Giggling at her pun, she gave the rock a kiss and went to catch up with her two lovers, throwing a farewell over her shoulder as she did. The mustachioed rock could only watch helplessly, not having the limbs needed to move.

"Bad thing, Dada?" the little one asked.

"That woman… Dorothy…" it replied, eyes shut as it began praying for the safety of the three nice humans, "…Is a famous WITCH…"

OoOoO

"Just as I thought! The Seal of Babbo!" Dorothy announced as the quartet made it to their destination some two hours later, "This is where an unimaginably powerful ARM sleeps!"

"Oro… I see, that I do…" Harry said absently, studying the ruins before him. Luna and Gabrielle just nodded as they did the same from beside him. Internally, the three of them were wondering what they were doing here.

…Whatever. They finished their part of the bargain. Now to collect payment… "Oro… I do believe you promised us that ARM for following you here, that you did," Harry said, turning to their guide.

Dorothy looked up from the map she had out before her and turned to Harry. "Huh? I did, didn't I? Well…" She trailed off before, without any warning, dived in to give him a long, hard kiss on the lips. Harry blinked in shock, even as the training the girls put him through kicked in and he started kissing back. Behind him, Luna and Gabrielle looked at each other and giggled at the scene; looked like this might actually be easier than they thought it'd be!

When Dorothy finally came up for air, she was breathing hard and had a tomato-red blush adorning her cheeks, while Harry was a bit dazed. Seeing this, she giggled. "There, additional payment for going into the cave with me, with the Dagger Ring after we're done~!" She said with a wink, before turning back to her map.

"Ororo…" was all Harry could say, his mind having not yet rebooted from the surprise kiss with wonderfully soft lips.

As Harry was recovering, Dorothy was musing upon her current situation, her face turned down towards her map so that it looked like she was doing something:

'The ARM "Babbo," surrounded by mystery! Who knows what's been put here to protect it? And…' Dorothy slyly looked over to her new companions: the older blonde had picked up a twig from somewhere and started poking at the hunk, who was only now beginning to awaken. '…Even if he doesn't have an ARM, his strength could come in handy~! Not to mention his companions- they might have some handy abilities. I don't expect to need them, of course, but you never know…' She turned back to her map, trying to ignore the blush she could feel warming her cheeks. '…Besides, you don't see eye candy like him every day! Yummy~! And those girls with him! They make a girl seriously reconsider her life choices… especially the younger one! I find myself wanting to drag them behind one of these pillars and…'

Luna looked over at the slightly drooling Dorothy, lost in an ecchi daydream if the blood leaking out of her nose was any indication. She discreetly caught her partner-in-crime's attention from where it'd been focused on one of the columns, and pointed out their guide. Gabrielle smirked and whispered, "My, but she's got it bad for our Harry, _non_?"

Luna returned her fellow girlfriend's smirk. "Oh yes, but she will not crack for a while, not unless we give her a… push, as it were. Luckily, we'll get a chance after this little expedition, and again after we rescue the princess in the crystal coffin, along with her guardian rose. That should do it, then we can turn our attentions to… other prospects."

Gabrielle looked at Luna, noticing her now completely white and faintly glowing eyes for the first time. Also, now that she was closer, she could see just a hint of fang peeking from under her lips. "…Luna?" she asked, curious and just a little concerned for the older blonde. Luna noticed and her eyes immediately dimmed to their usual silvery-gray. She waved off the younger blonde's concern.

"No need to worry, Gabby. My Sight just seems to have increased exponentially. I think it may have something to do with my new… additions," Luna responded, before taking on a wondering expression. "…I wonder who in my family married a _kitsune_? Though this DOES explain why nobody else ever saw the things I could see… every major family line in Europe has some fey blood in them, but a fox _youkai_ usually native to Japan? Not so much, I think. How absolutely curious…"

Her musing was cut short as the quiet of the ruins was broken by a resounding -CRACK!- that echoed off the walls and columns around them, magnifying the sound and causing all the girls to jump. They quickly looked to where it had come from, fearing some kind an attack, only to drop their jaws in shock at what they saw.

Apparently, while Dorothy was busy being a pervert and Gabrielle and Luna were plotting, Harry had moved to the entrance of the ruin and, after examining the roots that had grown over it, proceeded to test his new-found strength by punching the natural barrier as hard as he could. His fist went through the good half-foot of twisted, dead, only-slightly-softer-than-a-rock wall of roots with only the slightest pain, before retracting, yanking out the rest of them in one human-sized chunk that left a neat little hole for them to stoop through.

Noticing his companions' expressions, Harry just shrugged and gave them that crooked smile of his as he carelessly tossed aside the piece of dead wood he'd ripped out like old stucco, completely oblivious to the subsequent swooning. "Oro, is something the matter?" he asked, scratching the base of his ponytail. Dorothy shook herself from her shock first, only being so quick because she had a job to do.

"Damn…" she whistled, walking up to his hole and examining it: a little rough, but they would be able to get through easily! Just how strong was this guy? First he kicks away her Ring Armor like it's a toy ball, then he does this?

…His muscles must be spectacular underneath that trice-damned black cloak. Drool…

…No! Bad Dorothy! Bad!

Dorothy once again shook herself awake from yet ANOTHER daydream, only to see that the hunk and his companions (huh. Just who ARE those girls, anyway?) had walked right past her and into the cave. "Oro! Are you coming or not, Ms. Dorothy?" Harry called back. The two blondes giggled knowingly. Dorothy blushed for the nth time that day and rushed to catch up with them.

"Damn it! I'm supposed to go first!" she called after them as she ran.

OoOoO

"Oro… I must say, I have never seen architecture like this before, that I haven't. And this one has seen many ruins in his travels," Harry said, looking around as he followed Dorothy, "And you say there is some sort of treasure in here?"

Dorothy nodded. "Yes, though I don't know what kind. It's a most mysterious ARM; no one who's gone looking for it has returned. It must be unlike any other." Her face turned determined. "It's Babbo… the unknown! And I'm going to add it to my collect-!"

"Wah!"

Dorothy and Harry turned back to see who had cried out, only to see Gabrielle hovering over a hole in the ground, her wings, extended until they were several feet wide and nearly covering the whole corridor, slowly beating up and down in powerful strokes. She maneuvered herself until she wasn't directly over the hole before dropping down, her wings returning to their previous size. She was breathing slightly harder than normal, just enough to draw attention to her rising and falling chest. Harry, Luna, and Dorothy just stared before they realized what they were doing and either turned their head away and blush furiously once again (Dorothy), continuing unabashedly staring (Luna), or worriedly rush over to check on her (Harry).

"_Etes-vous bien, mon amour?_" he asked, concerned as he checked over her. Gabrielle stopped him by hugging and laying her head on his chest. He automatically returned the hug.

"I am fine, _mon_ Harry, no worries," she told him soothingly. He nodded, reluctantly agreeing when his hands and eyes couldn't find anything.

"Besides, the hole wasn't all that deep anyway- a few feet, tops. I checked," Luna added. Harry looked up just in time to catch her eyes flash white for a second. He quirked an eyebrow in question, but Gabrielle, who had looked up, too, just whispered a quick "We'll explain later" to him. He nodded, again reluctantly.

Dorothy, who had missed the whole byplay between them, leaned to the side to look around Gabrielle, trying to get a better look at her wings. "Wow… those actually work! I honestly didn't expect that! Are those part of you, or are they an ARM…?"

Gabrielle stepped out of Harry's embrace and considerately spun around for Dorothy, her sundress fluttering around her shapely calves. The other three couldn't help by take a small peek. "No, they are a part of me, just like my arms and legs… though I must admit, I am slightly unusual according to my kind's standards, since we can usually retract our wings completely into ourselves."

"Your kind?"

"I am Veela, a storm nymph… or, at least, that is what we are called. In reality, we are more beings of passion than any kind of weather phenomena."

Dorothy nodded, at least one of her questions finally answered: she now knew what the younger blonde was!

…Of course, she had no idea what a Veela was, but it was a start! Maybe the library at Caldia had something on them…?

But that was something to think about for later. At the moment, they had other things to worry about, like getting Babbo.

"Thanks for answering my question, um… you know, I don't think I ever got your names…"

"I am Gabrielle. Gabrielle Delacour." Gabrielle gave a small curtsey.

"Luna Lovegood. A pleasure to meet you… even if it's been a while since we actually met…" Luna introduced herself next, giving Dorothy a smile to take the sting out of her words.

"Oro, and this one is Harry Potter, but please, call me Harry," Harry finished, giving her his crooked smile.

"Ahem. Thanks once again, Gabrielle," she said, quickly turning around and walking off to hide her blush, "Alright, let's keep going!" Once again, Luna and Gabrielle looked at each other and grinned lecherous, planning the deliciously naughty things they were going to do to the girl, then the deliciously naughty things they were going to get HARRY to do to the girl, when she finally cracked. Oh yes, when they finally wore that girl down…

Harry shivered, having felt two incredibly malevolent auras behind him. But when he turned around, all he saw were his two girlfriends, looking absolutely angelic. He turned his eyes back forward, resolving to keep a closer watch on their surroundings… though he couldn't help by feel that those auras were somewhat familiar…

"Dorothy? You mentioned earlier that ARMs are all unique. Is there a way to categorize them?" Gabrielle asked as they were entering a large cavern, their path turning into a causeway.

"Hmm? Yes, actually. They come in several categories: regular, everyday tool ARMs, Weapon ARMs that transform into some sort of… well, weapon, Guardian ARM's that summon a protector, Dark ARMs that have some kind of negative effect on both user and victim, Holy ARMs to heal wounds and cure curses, Nature ARMs that manipulate the very world around you, and those that are so strange, they have no classification," Dorothy told them, before throwing a wink over her shoulder and adding, "I should know, since I'm collecting them~!"

"Oro, is there any reason why you're collecting ARMs?" Harry inquired.

"…That, my dear, handsome friend, is a secret~!" Dorothy answered as she turned to him and gave a… well, one could call it a smile, but it was a dark smile with just the slightest hint of viciousness, a smile that told the ancient, reptilian parts of the human mind that she had a goal, and any sort of interference with said goal was going to be met with pain, and lots of it. The smile sent a shiver down both Harry and Gabrielle's spines.

Luna, on the other hand, didn't even look the slightest bit perturbed. Her eyes glowed ever-so-slightly, though…

But dwelling on the sudden bad vibe they got from their guide would have to wait until some other time, because only seconds later she cheerily announced "We're here!" as the group arrived at the end of the causeway and entered a large room, devoid of anything but a pedestal and a treasure chest.

"Mou… a little obvious where this Babbo is, _non_?" Gabrielle asked, staring pointedly at the lone treasure chest.

"Oro… this is too easy," Harry muttered, scoping out the large, empty room for any signs of traps, ambushes, or other things of the nasty variety. Seriously, this place was just setting off his gut instincts like there was no tomorrow… and he'd learned to trust his instincts. It was the only reason why he survived the early days of the war.

Dorothy nodded, her face grim. "I agree. Only robbers or the ARM's crafter would hide one like this, and either one would set traps to prevent it from being stolen!" She looked back along the causeway as she continued, "We passed the remains of destroyed ARMs on the way in- others have come here seeking Babbo, but they met something too powerful!"

"But the question is: what? And where is it?" Harry asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

…Well, almost everyone's; as soon as Dorothy had turned back to face the room proper, Gabrielle had flicked her wrist, summoning all the afore pointed out broken ARMs and having them shrink as they flew into the pockets of her sundress- they may be broken, but it didn't mean they couldn't be studied and repaired. Really, all they needed was a working ARM for comparison, and they were going to get one of those when they were done, if their guide kept her promise! When she was finished, Gabrielle looked up to see Luna looking at her over her shoulder. She smiled and nodded, and Gabrielle beamed back as they both turned the attention back to the room.

Dorothy sighed; they weren't going to do any good just standing there, were they? She took a step forward… and froze, as the jewel imbedded in the pedestal suddenly flashed, summoning the biggest golem any of them had ever seen. Ever. It was big enough to cause a deafening -KABOOM!- by just falling the foot or so it had from where it'd appeared in the air. The group looked up at it in awe and not a little bit of fear.

"Oroooooo…" Harry trailed off, eyes bugged and neck craned as he tried to see the top of the golem. He could, barely, since it nearly reached the ceiling.

"Tch. Just as I thought: a guardian!" Dorothy griped as she instinctively brought her broom into position, already knowing it wasn't going to do much good against the monstrosity.

"…Ve are going to have to fight zat, aren't ve?" Gabrielle asked rhetorically, wondering how they were going to accomplish such a task. Sans maybe Harry's Necros Wand, there was no way any of their spells would hurt the damn thing- it was huge! It was nearly wide enough to cover the entire room! Seriously! Maybe extremely concentrated Passionfyre…?

"Well, Harry, think you can knock it over?" Dorothy asked, looking over to the still-dumbstruck man.

Harry looked at her, looked at the golem, looked at his fists, and sighed. "This one will check. I do not think I can, that I don't, but it is worth a shot…" he replied before he moved so fast he seemed to have teleported. He was quickly at the things giant, thick legs, and proceeded to punched the stone as hard as he could. He got fistful of pain and a small crack in the stone- or whatever it was that the golem was made of- for his troubles.

"ORORO!" He also had to frantically dodge as the giant tried to return the favor, putting a sizable crater in the ground with its fist.

"Oro… I don't think that's the answer, that I don't…" he said as he hurried back over to the group, nursing his stinging hand. It wasn't broken, thank Merlin, but it still hurt like a bitch!

"Shit…" Dorothy bit out in answer before raising her hand, the bracelet around her wrist glowing faintly. "Alright then, that means I'm going to have to fight a guardian with a guardian!" she said, before holding out the hand she'd raised earlier. The bracelet's glow rapidly intensified until, with a faint pop and a mighty roar, a winged lion appeared next to her. "Guardian ARM: Flying Leo! Go!" she commanded. Immediately, it charged its much bigger foe and began attacking relentlessly.

Meanwhile, Gabrielle was trying to transform into her full Veela form, but couldn't seem to pull it off. Instead, though, there seemed to be a knot in her chest that was getting tighter and tighter, until eventually…

Dorothy, trapped where she was as her guardian did battle, jumped as a bolt of violet lightning struck the giant in the chest. It didn't do much damage, but it distracted it enough that Flying Leo was able to get a good blow in. Still, she turned to the source to see Gabrielle staring in shock- and maybe a bit of awe- at her faintly smoking hands. "Zat vas… new," the winged blonde muttered, "I vonder vat happened to my Passionfyre…?"

Dorothy was distracted yet again as a dark blue fireball blew past her and stuck the giant in the shoulder, once again doing minimal damage, but drawing its attention long enough for Flying Leo to land another good strike. She turned to Luna, who was already holding another fireball in her hands and rearing back her arm for a throw. She tossed, and the ball of fire struck again, this time on the chest, near the scotch mark left by Gabrielle's lightning bolt. Flying Leo was once again given the chance to strike.

"Wha-? How-? Were those ARMs?" Dorothy stuttered, staring between the two other girls and pointing at their hands.

"Natural abilities- remember, Dorothy: we've never even heard of ARMs before arriving in these lands," Luna said as she readied another fireball. She threw it, then turned to Harry, who had stood there the whole time, tensed with the Necros Wand's tip poking out from under his sleeve as he readied himself to defend the girls should the giant before them decide they were the bigger threat. He felt so bloody useless- he didn't dare use his wand because he was pretty sure blowing a chunk out of the damn thing would really get its attention, which would put the girls in danger- especially Dorothy, who looked like she couldn't move while her lion guardian was out- but he couldn't even move, because then he would be leaving the girls wide open! Damned if he did, damned if he didn't!

"Harry! Get to the chest! The only thing that can do enough damage to the golem is Babbo, and you're the only one that can open the damned thing! Go!" Luna shouted, making herself heard over the din of the battling guardians. Harry turned from watching the battle to tell her he was not going to abandon them, but a look into her softly glowing white eyes convinced him otherwise. He sighed and gave her a nod of understanding- if the resident Seer was so sure…

He once again moved as quickly as he could, this time weaving around the golem's giant legs and to the chest at the other end of the room. As soon as he made it, he quickly unlatched the lid and opened it, to reveal… wait.

This… couldn't be right.

No.

Fucking.

Way.

Nope, he had to be seeing things.

Harry couldn't help but stare incredulously down at what could only be described as a mutant cup-and-ball, the silver cups attached to a silver-capped wooden handle made it look much like a small mallet, while the ball attached to the cup via a sturdy chain was a sleeping, disportionately large metal head, complete with mustache, goatee, giant eyebrows, and a snot bubble coming out of its long nose. He couldn't believe it- this was what was going to take down that giant golem?

The snot bubble popped as Babbo (?) awoke and blinked the sleep away from his eyes. He mumbled something unintelligible, groaned, than seemed to finally notice that someone was staring down at him. But instead of being perturb in anyway, he just glared and growled out, "What are YOU looking at?"

Before Harry could collect himself enough to answer, Maybe-Babbo completely dismissed him and began studying his surroundings, apparently not even acknowledging the battle going on just several meters away from his resting place. "…And where am I? I can't remember a thing. How long have I been asleep… and how did I get in here?" he wondered aloud.

"Oro… are you Babbo?" Harry finally recovered enough to ask, already resigning himself to just blasting away at the giant golem behind him. At least he was away from the girls now, so if he did get the damn thing's attention, the only things with a chance of getting flattened were him and the freaky talking toy.

Babbo hopped out of his chest to do more surveying, seeming to completely ignore the battle going on right before his eyes. Seeming to be satisfied with what he saw, he turned to Harry and said with a great dignity that just seemed completely ridiculous coming from a large, metal sphere shaped into a crude caricature of a human head, "Yes, I am Babbo… and that is all I remember!"

OoOoO

X

OoOoO

Translations and other Notes:

Absolument merveilleux- Absolutely marvelous

Magnifique- Magnificient

S'il vous plait- Please

Absolument belle- Absolutely beautiful

Tais-toi - (You) Shut up

Le condamner tout - Damn it all

L'essence de Gabrielle- Essence of Gabrielle

Monsieur Galet- Mister/Sir Boulder

Junior de Galet- Little Boulder/Boulder Jr.

Kitsune (Japanese)- Fox

Youkai (Japanese)- does not have a precise English translation, though "demon" is often used, despite being closer in characteristics to nature spirits

Tergeo (spell)- cleaning spell, siphons off the contaminant

OoOoO

A/N: I was looking through the manga again, and I just realized that, though Rapunzel is one ugly-ass bitch, she actually has a decent pair, so I was wrong about her being flat. Doesn't change the fact that her and Girom are going to die horrible, painful deaths… fu fu fu…

Alright… due to me adding two more otherworlders to the series (Luna and Gabrielle), Snow's Seven Dwarfs, also called Team MAR, has been changed to The Knights of the Round. I will reveal who the last three new characters are later, when they appear, though you might be able to guess one of them if you've ever read the tales of the Brothers Grimm. Hint: There's another tale that features Snow White, only this time she's not alone.

Next time: The end of the battle for Babbo to helping out Jack and her mother… wait… HER? Well, I did warn you in the last chapter… Fem!Jack!

P.S.

Thanks to Kaishi no Kokuei and Techpriest of Tzeentch for the corrections!

Don't forget to review!


	3. Chapter 2: Cute Little Elf Girl Bandits

A/N: Here's the next part: Babbo's cave (part two), getting mugged (kinda), and, finally, Jack and Ma's farm. This will be the first EVER appearance of Fem!Jack in history. Let's hope I don't fuck it up, eh?

…On that note, try and figure out who I'm basing Fem!Jack on. She'll be a physical carbon copy of this much-loved character, and share some of the same quirks… like an affiliation with melons… and usage of the word "Ara"… and the occasional bout of OOC demonic laughter. If you're a fan of romantic comedies, you should recognize her easily.

Disclaimer: I don't own MAR or Harry Potter. What? You actually thought I did? Idiot.

OoOoO

X

OoOoO

_Last time, on _Two Blondes and a Reaper_:_

_"Oro… are you Babbo?" Harry finally recovered enough to ask, already resigning himself to just blasting away at the giant golem behind him. At least he was away from the girls now, so if he did get the damn thing's attention, the only things with a chance of getting flattened were him and the freaky talking toy._

_Babbo hopped out of his chest to do more surveying, seeming to completely ignore the battle going on right before his eyes. Seeming to be satisfied with what he saw, he turned to Harry and said with a great dignity that just seemed completely ridiculous coming from a large, metal sphere shaped into a crude caricature of a human head, "Yes, I am Babbo… and that is all I remember!"_

OoOoO

Chapter 2: Here There Be Cute Little Elf Girl Bandits

"I… erm… see… I think…" Harry said as he stared down at the legendary ARM that was supposed to save them from the big, giant guardian: Babbo… Talking Cup-And-Ball Game Extraordinaire.

…They were so fucked.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" Babbo scolded, apparently mistaking Harry's vacant gaze of hopelessness for staring. Mistake or not, though, his reprimand was enough to knock Harry out of his Feeling of Absolute Doom and served to remind him that it'd been Luna who'd told him Babbo was going to save them. And Luna was never wrong.

Ever.

She'd proved that enough times during the war.

Deciding to put his hopes in Luna once again, Harry gave Babbo his best disarming smile and asked, "Oro… we're in a bit of a bind here, that we are, and it seems you are the only one that can help us."

Babbo quirked an eyebrow at that. "And why should I help you?" he asked, then snorted derisively. "Che! You humans! Always creating these needless messes for yourselves!"

Harry just blinked at the answer; great, bad-tempered and useless. Excellent. What next? Maybe he could just throw rocks at the damn go-

…Waitaminute… Babbo was a large, metal orb attached to a mini mallet shaped into a ball-and-cup game. Though the mallet/cup was more or less useless (unless he could do something with that spike on top of it…), Babbo might be able to pass off as a spikeless morningstar… Hmmm…

Harry turned to look at the golem, which was still unsuccessfully swatting at Flying Leo while being hammered by realtively ineffective lightning bolts and fireballs, then looked back at Babbo. Babbo noticed the look in Harry's eyes… and didn't like it one bit.

"Oh no! Whatever you're planning, leave me out of it! This is none of my business!"

"Mr. Babbo, are you sure you don't want to help us?" Harry asked, smiling. Of course, where the smile before was warm in the WAFF (Warm And Fuzzy Feeling) sense, this one was warm in the "Burning Sulfur and Brimstone of the Deepest Pits of Hell" way. Needless to say, it sent a shiver of absolute fear down Babbo's non-existent spine.

"YES! Now leave me be!" Babbo practically shouted at him before trying to hop back into the chest in an attempt to hide from the scary evil smiling demon.

"…Can't say I didn't ask…" With a sigh, Harry picked up the mallet and grabbed the chain, pulling Babbo from the chest in the process. He started spinning Babbo around by his chain, getting ready to charge in and bash the golem as hard as he could.

"Wait-! What are you doing? Stop! I command you to stop! I'm getting DIZZY!" Babbo screamed from the end of the chain, his voice undulating as he spun around. Harry didn't pay him any mind- between being polite to a rude, mutant, cup-and-ball game and saving the girls… well, the choice should be obvious.

'I hope this works… Sigh. I wish the chain was longer… or that I actually had a mallet, for that matter…' Harry mentally griped, never noticing the sudden lengthening of the chain or the increase in size and length of the cup-slash-mallet that came with his thoughts.

DONG!

"OW! BE CAREFUL WITH ME! BETTER YET, LET ME GO, YOU…!"

…Well, he didn't notice until Babbo was unceremoniously slammed into the stone floor. Harry blinked at the sudden stop, then looked down at the chain in his hand and followed it along to see Babbo, face up (unfortunately…) in a sizable crater, spewing obscenities.

"Oro… sorry about that, Mr. Babbo…" Harry absentmindedly tried to placate the talking ARM even as he took in the sudden changes of the afore mentioned magical artifact.

'Huh. The chain is longer, and the cup part actually looks useful now… and just when I was griping about those particular features. How awfully… convenient. Does it change according to my thoughts?' Harry wondered as he held up the now four-feet long, foot-and-a-half-wide "cup" to his face. It now looked like a sturdy war hammer of old, with a rather wicked looking spike topping the metal head. This little baby, plus the fact that the chain could lengthen at command, plus his new found strength, equaled…

Well, their situation didn't seem so hopeless, anymore.

…And not a moment too soon, too, since the golem was finally able to get in a good shot on Flying Leo, sending it into the ground and seemingly back to wherever it was those guardian summons came from. Seeing one annoyance down, the golem then proceeded to reach for the nearest person, still completely ignoring the lightning bolts and fireballs the rapidly tiring Luna and Gabrielle were sending it.

Now that he was on a bit of deadline and didn't have to worry about the length of the chain, Harry didn't hesitate to throw the still screaming ARM at the busy golem as hard as possible, following behind with his new war hammer at the ready in case he needed to rush in for a follow-up attack. He found he needn't have worried, though, because the collision that resulted from Babbo going at high speeds and meeting with the torso of the golem was enough to knock the damn thing down, leaving a sizable crater where the ARM had hit. As the golem went down, Harry skidded to a halt and retracted the chain with a thought, bringing the ARM back into his outstretched hand.

"Oro… Mr. Babbo, are you well?" Harry asked the ARM as he dangled the enchanted metal ball in front of his face with the chain- while the ARM was rude, it didn't mean he, himself had to be. He had to wait a moment as Babbo recovered his breath (…Breath? Did that mean it had lungs?), but was not disappointed when the ARM gave him a scathing reprimand, much as he had expected from him in the short time he'd known him.

"HOW DARE YOU DO SUCH TO A GENTLEMAN? I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL! DO YOU HEAR ME? A DUEL! I…!" Babbo screamed into Harry's face. Harry didn't let it perturb him any- he knew that, after this was all over, Dorothy was going to have to be the one to deal with him, while he and the girls would only have to contend with a magical knife that was hopefully mute.

As soon as he saw that Babbo wasn't going to be done with his rant anytime soon, Harry proceeded to completely ignore him in favor of checking on his companions, who'd been doing most of the actually fighting. He dropped the arm holding Babbo up and quickly jogged the rest of the way over to the three girls. From where he was, they looked unharmed, but he wanted to make sure.

When he got there, he saw that his initial impressions was more or less correct- Dorothy was short of breath and shaken from almost being grabbed by a giant hand capable of squishing her like a grape, Gabrielle was hunched over as she tried to gulp in air like it was going out of style, and Luna was somewhere in between, breathing hard and suitably shaken by how close they'd come to taking a casualty, but not to the same degree as either of the other girls. Apparently using those new abilities of theirs (note to self: find out when they could shoot lighting and throw fire) fatigued them significantly.

A small part of him also noticed how absolutely delicious his girls looked at the moment, with sweat glistening off slightly-tanned skin and bosoms heaving, but filed it away for later, when they had time for a… victory celebration.

Harry absently smacked the golem's head with his cup-turned-war-hammer when it began to stir, stunning it again. He took a second to check to see if it was getting up anytime soon, took in the impressive crack running down its helmet (or maybe it was its head… whatever. The thing had tried to kill his girls and Dorothy, so he'd have to be forgiven for not caring for the damn thing's fate), and, deciding it was safe, turned back to his companions and asked, "Are you girls alright?"

He got three nods, followed by three jealous glares on account of the fact that he didn't even have the decency to look tired from doing more damage in a little over a minute than they did the five minutes before that.

Of course, those glares turned into swoons when he tilted his head in confusion at their reactions while scratching the base of his ponytail- Merlin/gods that was cute!

OoOoO

"I REFUSE, I REFUSE, I AB-SO-LUTE-LY REFUSE! I WILL NOT BECOME YOUR ARM!"

The gang was back topside, and Dorothy had just laid her claim on Babbo. Apparently, Babbo was NOT happy with the arrangement.

Despite being an amnesic ARM- never mind that most non-Guardian class ARMs aren't supposed to be aware enough to have memories, much less lose them- Babbo was still very nitpicky about any acquaintances (*ahem*underlings*cough*) he makes- he liked to think of himself as a gentleman, and gentlemen have to be seen with those worthy of their station, after all.

…Of course, everybody else would argue that he was more a whiney bitch than a gentleman, but to actually say such in his presence would invite a tirade that would make you wish you'd kept your mouth shut… but that was beside the point.

The group, meanwhile, was moderately confused by his outburst- Dorothy because most Guardian-class ARMs (a tentative classification because it was what Babbo most resembled, though his technical classification was that of "none of the above") were happy to meet new owners, the other three because Dorothy was a very likable girl that two of them would like to see the third do more than just "like" her.

"But why, Mr. Babbo? Ms. Dorothy is a very nice girl, that she is. If anybody would know how to bring out your full potential, it would be her," Harry told the irritated (and slightly irritating) ARM he was holding level to said girl's face, thinking the conversation might go better if they were on (perceived) equal footing. So far, it wasn't working.

Babbo somehow spun around in Harry's hands, despite the lack of leverage. "She simply reeks of evil magic! That's why!" He responded, before looking Harry up and down, as if trying to find something. "…Or course, it could be said that you're worst, but at least yours is simply Dark." He looked to either sides of his holder, where Luna and Gabrielle were looking on, Luna amused and Gabrielle alternating her gaze between Babbo and Dorothy, looking cutely confused. "…Though that is quite possibly thanks to the angelic maiden that travels with you and her earthy friend. The gods only know how else you could have kept your mind while being corrupted by whatever the hell you were doing to get an aura THAT Dark!"

Harry put on a hurt face, which, surprisingly enough, was actually real; it brought back some rather unpleasant memories, being called corrupted. "The darkness within me is of a divine source, that it is…"

If either had looked to the sides and behind himself/past Babbo, they would have seen the girls about to cry at seeing Harry's unintentional "kicked puppy" face.

"Besides, _Monsieur_ Babbo," Gabrielle added as soon as she recovered from the need to hug and cuddle and comfort and numerous other things involving Harry's head touching either her chest or her lap, "It is not evil that clings to her magic, just residue from practicing the Black Arts!"

This comment got her surprised/incredulous stares from Dorothy and Babbo, respectively.

"How…?""…You just made my case, milady."

Gabrielle blinked, a simple, innocent gesture that momentarily had everyone else- even Babbo, the ARM with no sexual organs of any kind- blush as unbidden fantasies of innocent schoolgirls/apprentices (depending on world of origin) flashed through their minds. "_Non, non!_ _Les Magies Noires_ is the technical name of what many consider offensive spells! They are, by nature, neither good or evil, just destructive. What you sense, Mr. Babbo, is just the unique residue this brand of magic leaves on an aura, which will fade away anywhere between ten hours and a day after the last spell is cast." She finished her impromptu lecture with a cute, sunny smile that once again had everybody there momentarily experiencing innocent schoolgirl/apprentice fantasies.

Seemingly completely unaware of the effect she was having on everybody present, she then turned to Dorothy to answer the pink-haired witch's question. "And to answer your question, _Mon _Dorothy: I, as well as Luna and Harry, can sense magical auras because… well, a wanderer is bound to have picked up a few tricks, _non_?"

"Really? And what are these 'tricks' you picked up on your travels? Care to share?" Dorothy asked, her curiosity piqued once again. Babbo stayed silent as he listened in as well, also curious about this strange group he'd found himself falling in with: two maidens whose elemental alignments were so strong it was like, instead of blood, it was wind and fire that was coursing through the younger and earth and water that was flowing through the older, and both with a man who was darkness incarnate, though- and this was the confusing part- it was the comforting darkness one might find on a night of the full moon, instead of the thick, oily darkness like the witch that was with them. He might not have remembered much, but he was pretty sure the man's aura should have been impossible.

…There was also the strange tang in their auras, one that was almost… otherworldly, but considering their unique natures and their admitted foreign status, he didn't put too much thought into it.

Gabrielle tilted her head cutely as she thought of her answer, and the fantasies returned for a moment. "Well, that, Dorothy… is a secret!" she answered with a wink after a moment of deliberation. Dorothy and Babbo face-faulted (Babbo somehow staying in Harry's hands), even as those fantasies briefly returned once again.

Really, the way she made everything she did both adorable and drop-dead sexy had to be illegal!

When she got up, Dorothy whined, "That was just mean, leaving me hanging like that! Sigh… what I wouldn't give to see some of the stuff you probably saw… The magic you came across must be amazing…" she trailed off, imagining the things the far-off civilizations the three travelers visited could do, things that probably nobody on the continent of Mar-heaven had ever seen before. 'I wonder if they'll be willing to make a trade…?' she wondered… before her mind took her down a slightly different tangent. 'Will I have to convince them…? It'll certainly be fun trying to… convince Harry to teach me… mmm… "I'll make it worth your while, Harry… Oh yes… definitely worth your while…"…giggle…'

The group looked on as a slightly drooling Dorothy got lost in another perverted fantasy. Gabrielle and Luna tried to muffle their giggles as they looked on, so as to not alert Harry in any way to their plans for their pink-haired guide.

The moment ended as Babbo, not seeing the humor in the situation like the two blondes or the having Harry's saint-like patience, and deciding he wasn't going to be learning more about the strange travelers, cleared his throat (wherever that was) loudly from his place in Harry's hands (who, strangely enough, wasn't the least bit tired from holding up the talking, mustachioed metal ball). Dorothy started awake and blushed in mortification as she discreetly wiped away the tiny bit of drool on the corner of the lips- gods, had she said anything while she was out? Now THAT would be embarrassing!

"Anyways, I will still not become your ARM! While your magic may not be evil- though I highly doubt that- it is still disgusting, and I do NOT want to even be touched by you, much less used!"

Whatever happy, fuzzy feeling Dorothy still had from her fantasy of herself and Harry (and Luna and Gabrielle, much to her surprise) and several gallons of honey and strawberries immediately disappeared at this rather rude statement.

"But… I've searched so long… gone so far…" She impulsively reached out and grabbed Babbo, bringing him closer to make her point that much clearer… and promptly fell over under his weight, only her luck and the fact that she fell forward saving her from serious injury. When she recovered, she tried to pick Babbo up, and found he was so heavy she couldn't even lift him a little. She looked over at Harry as the implications of this sank in, her eyes wide with shock.

"YOU THREW THIS THING?" she shrieked, her voice cracking in shock as she wondered just how strong Harry actually was. Much to her chagrin, Harry just nodded.

"That I did. Mr. Babbo is not that heavy, is he?" he asked, honestly confused- he didn't SEEM that heavy earlier. There was significant weight there, yes, but… well… to not even be able to lift it? Maybe it was some kind of enchantment…

Babbo chose this moment to sneer, "I can change my size, incidentally, but my weight stays the same!"

Well, there goes that theory, if the look of genuine surprise on Dorothy's face was any indication.

Dorothy pouted as she gave up trying to lift Babbo. "Fine!" she huffed, "Be that way, you ugly brute!"

"BRUTE? How DARE you speak of a gentleman like that!" Babbo shouted up at her. She made a point to ignore him as she turned to Harry.

"Harry, since it seems you might be the only one that can use this hopeless piece of scrap metal-"

"Resentful, _non_?" Gabrielle whispered to Luna behind Harry's back. Luna snickered as she looked on.

"-I'll let you have him in exchange for the Ring Dagger and one other thing, since, rude or not, hopeless or not, he is still valuable."

"…And you can't carry him," Luna added, cheekily.

Dorothy sighed. "Yes, that too." She turned her attention back to Harry. "So?"

"Oro…" Harry trailed off as he looked down at Babbo, who was looking up at him. Babbo sighed and said, "I will go with you, if only because you three are an interesting bunch, and I can certainly do worse for retainers."

Harry studiously ignored the "retainers" comment as he looked back up at Dorothy. He was feeling distinctly cheated, since he'd been hoping for both a sample of this new type of magical artifact that they could study- he had a feeling they weren't quite ready to study what made Babbo tick- and some peace and quiet… along with some privacy so he could interrogate his lovers about their abilities in the most fun way he knew how, too. Instead, they were going to be stuck with a pompous windbag. But he couldn't just leave the damn thing alone, Dorothy wasn't going to take him, and he couldn't go back in the box because, annoying as the little bugger was, that was just too cruel.

He looked to Luna, who nodded, and Gabrielle, who shrugged (which did interesting things to her chest), then turned back to Dorothy and sighed. "Alright. Babbo for the Ring Dagger and one other," Harry agreed with a nod. "What is this other thing you want?"

"Oh nothing… just this!" He only had a brief warning before she pounced, her lips firmly pressed to his as she gave him a passionate kiss. Harry, somewhat expecting her to do this because of last time, recovered quickly and, hoping his girls didn't take this the wrong way, took charge, dipping Dorothy and deepening the kiss. When they finally let up for air, it was Dorothy that was dazed this time, a goofy smile etched into her face as her brain tried to reboot from being completely and utterly blown.

It never got the chance, though, since, as soon as Harry had her upright again, Luna swooped in for a kiss, surprising Harry and shocking Dorothy enough to awaken from her blissful state… briefly, because Dorothy was soon under again as Luna worked her magic. Gabrielle came after, and didn't even let Dorothy recover before she was using that skilled tongue of hers to do things to Dorothy's mouth and tongue that had the pink-haired girl writhing in ecstasy. When Gabrielle finally withdrew after a good five minutes, the goofy smile, glazed eyes, and intense flush Dorothy was sporting looked to have a good chance of becoming permanent, while Harry was left slack-jawed, his eyes popping as his mind tried to both process what could very well be one of the hottest things he'd ever seen while telling his sudden raging boner to stand the fuck down before it humiliated him. So far he wasn't having any luck.

It was Babbo's lecherous comment of "Now THAT I can get used to!" that finally shook them awake and allowed them to collect themselves, though even then Dorothy still looked flushed and a little wobbly. You had to give her an "E" for effort, though, since she was doing a rather decent job of staying on her feet and ignoring the heat raging across her cheeks.

"Wow… that was… I mean… damn…" Dorothy stuttered, before collecting herself all the way and continuing in a admirably steady voice, "Well, Babbo is now yours, though I should warn you: you'll be carrying an incredibly rare ARM, so you'll be hounded by many people who will want to take it from you! You all best be careful, alright?"

Harry smiled at her worried look. "This one will keep that in mind, Ms. Dorothy. Do not worry for us; we have ways of defending ourselves, that we do."

"Hmm… let me guess: some of those tricks you learned on your travels?" Dorothy asked, giving him a smirk.

"Yes," Luna answered for them, before winking, "…And if you play your cards right, we might just teach you some of them when we next meet~!"

Dorothy's cheeks reddened once more as she imagined all the things she could do to "play her cards right." "I'll hold you to that, Luna!" she replied, before summoning her ornate broom. "Well, until we meet again, guys! Bye-bye!" she bid them as she hopped on and lifted off.

"Farewell, Ms. Dorothy!" "_Au revoir, Mademoiselle_ Dorothy!" "Until we meet again!" "You better not reek so badly next time, witch!" the trio (plus one talking ARM) shouted after her as she climbed higher, watching her until she disappeared into the blue sky.

When they could no longer see her, Luna started skipped off roughly in the same direction Dorothy had gone. "Well, let's get going then, shall we? I think I saw a Cerberic Passion Bird on our way here, and I want to see if I can find it again!" she cheered.

"Passion Bird?" Gabrielle asked as the rest of the group followed the resident quirky seer and magizoologist, "_Quel est cela?_"

"It's a three-headed relative of the phoenix whose tears, instead of having the power to cure all wounds, makes a potent aphrodisiac, each head producing a cocktail that also increases either stamina, sensitivity, or flexibility. It was actually what gave the Muggles the idea for the Asian Bird's Nest Soup"

Gabrielle's eyes visibly widened at this. "…_Vraiment?_"

"Yep!"

"…_Serieusement?_"

"Uh-huh!"

"…Then what are we waiting for? _Nous prenons!_"

Harry chuckled as he watched Gabrielle run off, dragging a bemused Luna behind her. He turned to Babbo next to him and said, "Well, shall we go, Mr. Babbo?"

"Of course; I can't let my retainers run willy-nilly, can I?"

Harry just smiled absently as he again purposely avoided acknowledging the retainer comment, instead wondering where Luna was going to lead them next. It was always an adventure with his Luna, and he was always up for another adventure.

…Well, as long as it didn't involve him getting shanghaied into being a savior again- been there, done that, got the lame t-shirt. Seriously, it was way more trouble than it was worth.

…Why did he suddenly feel like someone had walked over his grave?

OoOoO

While many would say Babbo was full of himself, in no way could it be said that he was dumb; Babbo, despite being amnesic, was quite bright, capable of coming to the right course of action more often than not.

Saying so, it was not hard to imagine that he would realize he shouldn't just take in retainers willy-nilly, but rather determine if these three strangers were WORTHY of being his retainers in the first place.

This meant only one thing: he had to interview them.

"So, what can you tell me about yourselves?" Babbo asked as they walked (or hopped, in his case) through a forest. It had been some time after they had left the Seal of Babbo, and Gabrielle had not stopped in either her enthusiastic searching or her insistence on dragging her fellow blonde around like a oversized handbag (much to Luna and Harry's amusement).

"Oro? What do you mean?" Harry asked, looking down at the talking ARM.

"You know: name, age, abilities, etcetera. The basics."

"Oh…well, this one is Harry Potter, the lovely blonde dragging the other lovely blonde and looking for a bird that is apparently God's gift to mankind is my companion, Gabrielle Delacour, and said other blonde is my other companion, Luna Lovegood. We are simple travelers, recently arrived in these lands," Harry answered with a shrug.

"And your abilities?"

"Well… it is not this one's place to tell you about those of the others, but my own abilities are nothing special, as far as unusual abilities go: strength, speed, stamina, agility… some skill in various magics, too, and I can wield several different types of weapons with passable proficiency. I believe that is all, that I do."

"And that darkness I can smell on you? It is surprisingly calming, I will admit, but I cannot help but worry about it."

"Oh, that… we all have our secrets, I'm afraid. I can tell you that you have nothing to worry about, but that is all I am comfortable revealing." Babbo looked up at this, intent on arguing, when he noticed the expression on Harry's face: it was one of pain, as if the question had brought up memories he would rather forget. He wisely let the matter drop, though now he was certain that, no matter what Harry said, they were far from simple travelers- one didn't get eyes like those from just wandering around.

Babbo was thinking of another question he wanted to ask when they heard a loud "Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!" from ahead of them, followed by sounds of a struggle. Noticing that the girls weren't in sight anymore, Harry, trained by years of war, then being on the run, immediately assumed the worst and took off in the direction of the noise, Babbo following closely behind.

When he arrived, his training took over and he took in his surroundings: there was Gabrielle, unharmed, Luna, unharmed, and they were…

"Harry! Harry! Look what we found!"

"Isn't she just the most _précieux_ little girl you have ever seen?"

…Fawning over a cute little brown-haired elf girl, who looked both flustered and annoyed at the attention she was receiving.

"Hey! Let me go, you meanies! This is a robbery! You're supposed to be afraid of me! Let me GO!" the little girl cried as she struggled in her (enviable) place between the two blondes, both cuddling her for all they were worth. Harry just stared at the comical scene before chuckling and lowering himself to the cutely indignant girl's height. Babbo, who had somehow kept up with Harry's fast pace, decided to stay back and just watch for now- he would give his input when it was needed

"Well, hello there, little one," Harry greeted warmly, giving her that crooked smile of his that turned any girl past puberty into moon-eyed putty. As if was, the poor prepubescent girl suddenly found herself exiting the "boys are icky" stage a little earlier than normal as her cheeks lit up with a fierce blush.

"Um… er… hello…" she managed to stutter out, before what Harry had said fully hit her and she automatically reacted as all children do when called "little": cute, pouty, self-righteous indignation.

"Hey! I'm not little, I'm seven!" she huffed, crossing her arms. Much to her chagrin, the act had her captors cooing about how absolutely adorable she was. She developed a cute scowl when Harry chuckled again at her answer.

"Well, then what should this one call you, ma'am?" he asked, still giving her that warm, crooked smile. This time, she was able to get out a straight answer through her shyness.

"My name's Chappu, and don't you forget it!" she said proudly, flashing him a peace sign that looked to be well practiced. The girls silently squealed at the cuteness overload.

"This one will be sure not to, Ms. Chappu. It is a pleasure to meet you," Harry replied, giving her a gentlemanly nod. The newly identified Chappu's blush rose to new levels, and for a moment Harry, who was wondering why she was blushing so hard, was worried the poor girl would faint.

"Well… ah… nice to…um…meet you, too," she got out through her stutter. She soon collected herself once again, though the blush stayed. "You know my name, but who are you guys?"

"Oro! How rude of me! This one is Harry, and my companions are Gabby-"

The blonde on her right cuddled a little closer.

"-Luna-"

The blonde on her left started rubbing her cheek against her hair.

"-And Mr. Babbo."

Babbo shamelessly studied the little girl for a moment, before nodding as he came to a conclusion. "A little young, perhaps, but a little training will make her a worthy retainer for a gentleman such as I," he said, causing Harry to cough in embarrassment and Chappu to tilt her head to the side in confusion. The cute gesture caused a second round of silent squealing from the older girls.

"What's a 'retainer'?" Chappu asked, then blinked as she noticed something a little more unusual. "And did your ARM just talk?"

"Oro?" Harry turned back to look at Babbo, who returned the look with an unreadable expression. "Yes, this one believes he did." His warm smile took on an amused quality. "He is an… unique ARM," he mused.

"Oh. And what's a 'retainer'?"

"Servant."

"…"

"…"

"The ARM wants me to be his servant?" Chappu asked, understandably incredulous. Harry shrugged helplessly.

"Like this one said earlier, Mr. Babbo is… unique," he said, trying to be tactful. Chappu had no such worries.

"You mean he's weird, right?"

"Weird? And what do you mean by THAT, you mmph mmph mm mm MMPH!" Babbo snapped, but was interrupted by Harry covering his mouth with his hand. Any further ranting was considerably muffled and thoroughly ignored.

"Yes, I believe that is one way to put it. He is, after all, quite possibly the only sentient ARM in existence."

"Sentient?"

"One who can think for themselves," Harry explained.

"Oooooh… but that means Guardian-type ARMs are sen… sent… what you said, too!"

"Not quite. From what this one has seen, the ARM itself isn't sentient, just the guardian that is called forth. Mr. Babbo, here, is the ARM itself."

"Oh… Wow! Then that means you have a super rare ARM there!"

"Well, I wouldn't say that…" Harry said, somewhat sheepishly. Chappu cocked her head to the side in question, causing a third round of silent squealing from the girls still holding her.

"Why? Didn't you just say there was only one of him?"

"Yes, but this one never said anything about owning him; owning a sentient constitutes slavery, something I do not condone on any level, that I do not."

"…What?"

"…Since Mr. Babbo is sentient, he would be a slave if I owned him. This one does not like slavery- or forced servitude of any kind- hence, this one does not own him," Harry patiently explained, not noticing Babbo's nervous, yet thoughtful, look at his words.

"…Oh…" Chappu took on a thinking pose, eliciting more silent squealing and cuddling from the two other girls. She seemed to be getting used to it, since she hadn't flinched from the attention for the last minute or so. "So…" she continued after a moment of thought, "What about Guardian-types?"

"As far as this one can tell, there's either some kind of contract between the Guardian and the ARM user, or they are magical constructs without any real sentience. I will need to study them some more before I can give you an answer, that I do."

"Oh…" Chappu thought on Harry's words a little more, before she, in true childish fashion, proceeded to completely disregard the conversation she'd just had for the last several minutes. "So… since he's not yours, can I have him?"

Harry blinked at the non sequitur, stared at Chappu as he tried to register her words, then blinked again, before cracking up in laughter. Chappu, for her part, reverted back to her pout of indignation. Cue silent squealing.

"Hey! I'm a thief! You're lucky I'm even asking!" she snapped, studiously ignoring the two older girls fussing over her with renewed vigor.

"My apol… apologies, Ms. Chappu," Harry pleaded while gasping for breath, his hands weakly warding off her ire. "It's just… well, if you can lift Mr. Babbo or convince him to be yours…"

Chappu looked over to Babbo, who glared and grunted out, "The answer's no, so don't even ask."

"And before you try to lift him," Harry added helpfully, "His size in no way reflects his weight- he is heavier than he looks. Much heavier."

Chappu's gaze turned unsure as she studied the still-glaring Babbo. "Um… how much heavier?" she asked.

"Heavy enough that most grown adults wouldn't be able to lift him off the ground, much less carry him. I am an exception, that I am, and I suspect Gabby and Luna might be able to, too, though they haven't tried."

"Oh…" Chappu adopted her thinking pose again- with predictable results from the girls- and sat there pondering what her next action would be, since she couldn't steal the rare ARM and he wouldn't go with her. After a moment of deliberation, she smacked a fist to a hand in an epiphany and declared, "Alright, then I'll follow you until I can find a guild member to help me steal him!" She smiled in triumph and flashed a victory sign. Cue more squealing.

"Guild?" Harry asked, curious. Chappu nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah! I belong to the Thieves' Guild of Luberia!"

Harry felt his eyebrows involuntarily raise in surprise at the little girl's words- there was a thieves' guild in this world? That couldn't be a good thing; the only thing worse than a criminal was a criminal syndicate, and the only thing worse than that was a LEGALIZED criminal syndicate, which he assumed was the case here, since being an official guild usually implied some kind of government support…

…But that was for another time, when he could sit down and go over all the new information he was receiving. For now, it was getting late, and they needed a place to stay that wasn't a clearing in the forest; he had a tent, yes, but he would still rather have a nice solid roof over his head.

"I see, that I do," Harry said on seeing Chappu's expectant face, "Then that must mean you're a bit of a prodigy, huh?"

Chappu blinked. "Prodi-what?"

"Genius, Ms. Chappu."

"Oh! Why didn't you just say that? Yeah, you can say I'm smart- so far, I'm the only one from the junior division that has gone out into the field!"

Harry chuckled at the childish boasting. "Well, in that case, perhaps you can help us. We need a place to stay for the night. Do you know of any inns nearby?"

"Inns? I don't think so. But I did see something nearby that might be one!"

"Really? Excellent! Can you lead us there?" Harry asked.

"Yep!" came the cheery, confident reply.

"In that case…" Without any warning, Harry picked up Chappu and swung her up and onto his shoulders, causing her to squeal in surprise and Gabrielle and Luna to pout at the loss of their unwitting toy. "…Lead the way, Ms. Chappu!" Harry cheered. Chappu laughed in delight.

"Onward!" she called, pointing in the direction they were facing. Harry laughed alongside her as he followed the little girl's advice. Following behind him, Gabrielle and Luna giggled at the two's antics and then sighed dreamily as, like all women who have just seen a man handle a child well, they started imagining what a great father Harry would make. Babbo, for his part, just looked on and shook his head as he followed the group, not for the first time since his awakening wondering why humans were so strange.

OoOoO

Chappu lead them in seemingly random directions until nightfall, when they finally arrived at the location the little girl had spoken of. While none of them were expecting a Hilton (or a castle, for those that didn't know what a Hilton was), what they did find was… well…

"It's a farm," Harry said, completely aware that he was stating the obvious and not really caring.

"It is?" Chappu asked from her place on Harry's shoulder.

"Dear, they have a field and crops," Luna explained kindly.

"Oh…" Chappu murmured, dejected. Harry, being who he was, immediately tried to comfort her, giving her a pat on the head (which was harder than it should have been, since he had to do so without knocking her off his shoulder).

"It's alright, Ms. Chappu, I'm sure we'll figure something out," he assured her, even as he started trying to figure out a plausible explanation for his magical tent. It should be easy, what with the existence of ARMs and such…

"The farmer would surely at least allow us use of his facilities, _non_?" Gabrielle added, "We can always camp out here, under _les etoiles_! It will be fun!"

"Really?" Chappu asked uncertainly, though her mood did seem to pick up at the older girl's enthusiasm- she wasn't quite sure what... whatever Gabby had said meant, but it sounded like fun.

"That's right!" Harry agreed with a nod and a triumphant grin, "See? Everything will work out fine! I'm sure even Mr. Babbo would agree! Isn't that right, Mr. Babbo?" The last was directed toward the ARM in hopes that he would get the hint (for once) and help cheer up their youngest party member.

Silence greeted them.

"Oro? Mr. Babbo?" Harry called out. At first, he was met with more silence, but was gradually able to make out the soft, but distinct sound of… munching?

"Mr. Babbo?" he called out again as he made to follow the sound. He soon found who he was searching for in one of the nearby fruit? vegetable? patches…

…Happily munching away at a melon-like plant.

Harry sighed in frustration- -really, for all his proclamations of being a gentleman, Babbo was a bit of a child. "Mr. Babbo… what are you doing?" he asked with his arms crossed in disappointment.

…Hey, if the man (in a manner of speaking) was going to act like a child, then he was going to be treated as a child.

Babbo looked up from his meal, seemingly completely unaware of the slight being directed at him. "I'm… eating?" he answered, giving Harry an "are-you-stupid?" look.

…Or it could have been constipation. Hard to tell, really.

…Though that did bring to mind the question: where was he putting it all? Babbo was an inorganic magical artifact, after all- no digestive tract. So where did the food go?

…Eh. A mystery for another time.

"Eating something that isn't ours, that it isn't! Really, Mr. Babbo! I expected better from you, that I did!" Harry scolded, "These are not the actions of a gentleman!"

"But it's just lying here, and I'm hungry!" the talking ARM whined, "Besides, I'm sure nobody would ever notice if one or two went missing!"

Harry, along with Gabby and Luna, both of whom had caught up with them sometime while Harry was scolding Babbo, simultaneously groaned and face-palmed; Babbo just had to go and say something like that, didn't he? Knowing Harry's luck, any second now the owners of the farm- most likely a pair of bodybuilders that were as wide as he was tall, with tempers inversely proportionate to their muscle mass- were going to come storming out, just in time to see Babbo with a bit of their crop hanging from his mouth.

"I really wish you hadn't said that, Babbo…" Luna sighed, confusing the two dimensional natives.

"Um… why?" Chappu asked, wondering why the usually cheerful trio looked like their favorite pet was about to die.

"Because dear Harry's luck hasn't always been… well…" Gabrielle trailed off, as the sounds of a commotion coming from within the hut reached their ears.

"M-mama! They're back!" said a muffled voice that was barely discernible, "This time for sure I'll-!"

"Don't Jack!" came another voice, clear enough that the group could tell it was a woman, "You'll be killed!"

The first voice, still muffled, seemed to ignore his/her mother's warning. "This is going to be dangerous, Mama, so stay hidden!" the voice shouted. A last, desperate cry of "Jack!" came just as the door was thrown open, momentarily blinding those outside with the sudden change in lighting.

"Stop right there, you monsters! If you destroy anymore of this garden, I'll… I'll…Ara… who are you people?"

Harry sighed; nice to know some things were constant in life, even if it's really crappy luck. He cranked his "harmless wanderer" façade up all the way up and steeled himself for possible (read: most likely) incoming pain as he waved sheepishly in the general direction the voice had come from. "Hello, there. I am truly sorry about this, that I am."

OoOoO

X

OoOoO

Translations:

Les Magies Noires- The Black Magics

Au revoir- Good-Bye

Quel est cela?- What is that?

Vraiment ?- Really?

Serieusement ?- Seriously?

Nous prenons- We ride

Les etoiles- The stars

OoOoO

A/N: Okay, so I haven't quite gotten to the promised appearance of Fem!Jack yet. Please don't hurt me! The meeting with Chappu took on a life of its own and… well… at least you know the next chapter will definitely have Harry and the gang helping out Jack and Ma with their "furry little problem". Then it's the market and meeting Alviss! I can't wait to get started! :)

Oh, and since I've mentioned Jack in this chapter, I'm going to let you all keep on guess who she will be a physical carbon copy of! Mwahahahahaha! (Insert Evil Smile Here)

And don't forget to review!


	4. Chapter 3: Werewolf Bashing 101

A/N: A warning- this chapter takes a slightly dark turn, containing allusions to rape and torture. Nothing graphic, but you'll know it's there.

To those of you wondering who Fem!Jack is based off of, the answer will be revealed at the end of the chapter… not that it's all that hard to guess. Like I said in the last chapter: she should be easily recognizable to romantic comedy fans… particularly the works of the almighty Akamatsu-sama.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or MAR. Obviously.

OoOoO

X

OoOoO

_Last Time, on _Two Blondes and a Reaper_:_

"_Stop right there, you monsters! If you destroy anymore of this garden, I'll… I'll…Um… who are you people?"_

_Harry sighed; nice to know some things were constant in life, even if it's really crappy luck. He cranked his "harmless wanderer" façade up all the way and steeled himself for possible (read: most likely) incoming pain as he waved sheepishly in the general direction the voice had come from. "Oro… hello, there. I am truly sorry about this, that I am."_

OoOoO

Chapter 3: Werewolf Bashing 101

"These vegetables are heavenly! Absolutely heavenly! Please, ma'am, may I have more?"

Harry groaned and face-palmed as Babbo continued wolfing down the strange, melon-like vegetables. They had been welcomed into the hut with open arms after the initial… misunderstanding was cleared up and offered food immediately. While the humanoid members of the party were reluctant to take from an obviously impoverished family, Babbo, it seemed, had no such compunctions.

"Once again, madam, I must apologize for my companion, that I must. This one does not know what has come over him," he said as he gave Babbo the evil eye through his fingers. Babbo didn't notice.

"Ara… it's alright, I guess. At least you're apologizing," their younger hostess sigh, glumly looking on as more of her family's farm's already meager crop disappeared down what seemed to be a bottomless pit in the disguise of a strange, talking ARM.

"Besides, when was the last time we had decent visitors?" their older hostess added with a smile as she brought in more vegetables, "And what did I tell you kids about all that fancy stuff? Just call me Ma! Everybody does! Now, eat up!"

"As you wish, mi- Ma," Harry replied with a smile of his own as he and the girls each grabbed a vegetable; he had to admit, he and his girls hadn't eaten since their trip through the gate, so he, at least, was starving. Judging by how Luna, Gabby, and Chappu had already polished off theirs and were happily helping themselves to more, he wasn't alone.

Harry then turned his attention back to their hostesses, biting into his own vegetable at a much more sedate pace as he regarded them.

The younger hostess, Jack, was a tall girl, probably about Gabrielle's age, with long, chestnut-brown hair arranged in a thick braid down her back and two cute, antenna-like bangs. The white t-shirt and overalls she was currently wearing did nothing to hide her lush figure- in fact, they only accented how much ahead of the growing curve she was for her age group.

But while it was true that those traits made her an extremely attractive young woman, it was her eyes that were probably her most striking feature: they were a warm honey-brown that radiated kindness and both innocence and wisdom. He'd only come across two other people in his travels that exuded something similar: Saotome Kasumi, the wife of his martial arts sensei, Saotome Ranma, and one of his rune teachers, Lady Verdandi, the Norn of the Present and, strangely enough, the wife of a mechanic and part-time motorcycle racer in Tokyo named Morisato Keiichi. Even her demeanor was somewhat similar the two _Yamato Nadeshiko_- though it was obvious she had some tomboyish tendencies, it was also becoming rapidly apparent that she was normally a quiet girl with a hidden wit and who strived to make her friends and family happy.

…Oh, and she seemed to have the tendency to begin a good number of her statements with "Ara." Couldn't forget that; that seemed to be some kind of requirement for women like Kasumi-dono and Lady Verdandi…

The older hostess, Ma, was… well, the best way to describe her would be a shorter, thinner, less emotionally scarred Mrs. Weasley, the Almighty bless her soul. While physically not even close to the late Weasley Matriarch, her personality was so similar that it hurt, her every action reminding Harry of his mother figure while growing up.

"…-ant some more?"

Harry blinked as he came out of his thoughts to the sight of Ma holding up a basket of vegetables to him. "I'm sorry?"

"Would you want some more, young man?" Ma asked again. Harry smiled and nodded.

"I would love to, thank you," he replied as he helped himself to another of the delicious vegetables. It had a strange taste for raw produce- something like what he imagine Chinese Hot and Sour Soup made with tomatoes would taste like- but delicious all the same, leaving behind a nice, warm feeling similar to an alcoholic beverage drunk on a cold winter's night.

"You know, this is so rude of us, but we've never gotten your names," Ma said as she placed the basket of food on the table.

"Oro? No, it is this one who has been rude if that is the case! Well, this one is called Harry, and my companions are Gabrielle, Luna, Ms. Chappu, and Mr. Babbo," Harry said, gesturing towards the appropriate individual as they were named. Gabrielle, Luna, and Chappu waved as they were introduced, while Babbo just continued his eating. "Gabrielle, Luna, and this one are but simple travelers, while Ms. Chappu joined us in the nearby forest and Mr. Babbo… well, we're still not quite sure what he is, that we are not…"

Babbo stopped his eating long enough to interject, "I am a gentleman, is what I am!"

"No gentleman eats the way you are currently doing, Mr. Babbo," Harry retorted with a glare, "Nor do they eat food that is not theirs without the owner's permission!" Harry was pleased to see that Babbo at least looked sheepish at his rebuttal, slowing his pace down a bit.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all! I've already told you to call me Ma, and this is my little girl, Jacqueline!"

Jack blushed bright enough for it to be visible through her t-shirt. "Mama! My name is Jack!"

Ma sighed and shook her head, though she looked more amused then exasperated; it was obvious that she'd had this conversation numerous times before. "I still don't see why you have such a problem with that name! Jacqueline is a perfectly pretty name for my beautiful little girl!"

"MAMA!"

Harry chuckled in amusement as he watched Ma exercising her age-old rights to embarrassing her child in front of guests… though if Jack turned any more red, he was sure something was going to pop. Hmm… better defuse this situation before one of their hostesses passed out.

"Oro, your mother is right, Ms. Jacqueline," Harry said, getting the attention of the two women. He gave them his best disarming smile- which caused every female in the house to blush or, in Jack's case, blush harder- and continued, "Your name is nothing to be ashamed of, that it is not; it is a fitting name for a lady such as yourself, both feminine, yet hinting at a fire that burns in your soul."

Thump!

"Oro…?"

Now it was Harry's turn to blush as his words had the opposite effect it was intended, his compliment too much for the girl to take.

"Ho ho ho! My, you do have a way of words, don't you, young man?" Ma laughed as she bent down to help her daughter, "Though what did you mean by the last part? I'm afraid I don't quite get it."

"The name 'Jacqueline' is the feminine version of a male name in my native tongue: 'Jacques.' 'Jacques' is in itself a version of a much older name, 'Jacob', which means "one who usurps'," Gabrielle helpfully told her, "In other words, her name hints that she won't take it lying down."

Ma looked at her with an unreadable expression, then turned to Harry and Luna and unabashedly studied them. "You… seem awfully learned for simple travelers," she said, though it wasn't accusing or even suspicious, just curious.

"Let's just say…we weren't always travelers, Ma," Luna said. Maybe it was her sad smile as she answered, or the way she unconsciously fiddled with the Deathly Hallows pendent around her neck, but, though it was obvious she wanted to know more, Ma just smiled, nodded, and dropped the subject.

Suddenly, a howl echoed through the night, and the homely atmosphere almost instantly disappeared. Ma had a look of fear on her face as she looked towards the sound in the distance, while Jack shot up from her place on the floor, a grim look in her eyes. Without a word, she walked up to the front door and opened it.

There, nailed to the wood, was a piece of parchment with a claw print on it.

"Oro… what is that?" Harry asked, worried. He almost didn't hear Jack's whispered reply.

"A warning."

OoOoO

"Ara… they first came about a year ago," Jack began. With the exception of the asleep Chappu and Babbo- Chappu using Babbo as a teddy bear in a scene that was cute enough to give one diabetes- everyone was gathered around a table for Jack's explanation. "And started eating our vegetables without permission or payment… the Rogelu Brothers…" she spat, "…Werewolves!"

"Oro… werewolves?" Harry inquired. While one couldn't exactly call him cold, he wasn't exactly as warm as he was before; upon learning of the threat the farm was under, Harry, Gabrielle, and Luna had instantly… focused, was the only world Ma could find. She found herself thinking back on the words of the enigmatic Luna, and saw a little of what the girl had meant- those green eyes now shined with a determination she'd only seen once before: in her husband when he went off to fight in the War Games.

She was looking at three soldiers, warriors who were no stranger to the ravages of war.

Ma took up the explanation from where Jack left off. "Yes," she replied, "Werewolves. They knew I had no husband to protect us, so they come stealin' from us like it's their right!"

"I see," Harry mused. But before he could continue, he was interrupted.

"A year, eh?"

Those at the table turned to see that Babbo was awake, though he hadn't moved from his place under Chappu. "A long time to be pushed around," he continued, "And during that whole time, did you ever fight with your whole heart?"

"Of course I did! I fought with everything I had!" "That is ENOUGH from you, Babbo!"

While it wasn't a surprise that Jack had shot up to her feet in indignation, it WAS a surprise that Harry- normally calm, collected Harry- had joined her…

…And he looked PISSED.

"Though I have put up with your rudeness because of your amnesia, you are starting to wear on my patience!" Harry hissed out in an uncharacteristic towering fury, "Still your tongue and think before you speak or I will be forced to become… unpleasant."

Harry's reprimand left everybody awake in a shocked silence. Babbo found himself swallowing the words on the tip of his tongue, suddenly scared of his traveling companion for the first time as he stared into those flashing green eyes- he didn't know how he knew, but this was a warrior before him, one whose ire he didn't want to incur, but had done just that.

…Perhaps he had been rash in just presuming this man to be his retainer; he was an ally and friend, if he was allowed, but servant he was most definitely not.

He could think on that later, though- first he needed to pacify his companion. "My apologies, Harry, ma'am," he said, bowing his head to them both. He was relieved to see Harry calming down, the warrior replaced with the wanderer again, though he didn't look as harmless anymore.

Harry in turn sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "This one apologizes as well, Mr. Babbo," he said, "It seems that this one is more fatigued than he thought. This one thinks he will retire for the night." He trudged to the door and opened it. "I bid you all good night," he said to them, before disappearing into the night. Seeing Harry leave, Gabrielle quickly bid all of them good night and rushed out after her lover. Luna sighed and smiled as she stood up as well, shaking her head at her sister-girlfriend's antics- really, could that girl BE any more obvious, the needy little nympho!

…Of course, she wasn't much better, but at least give a proper good night!

Luna stayed just long enough to make some last minute arrangements. "We have our own tent, so you don't have to worry about us, Ma," she told them, "Though we would like to ask you to look after Chappu and Babbo for us tonight."

"We'll be glad to," Ma assured her.

"Thank you, Ma," Luna said, bowing in gratitude, "If there is anything we can do to repay you, let us know."

Ma laughed and waved off the offer. "Ho ho ho! Your company is enough for us! I enjoyed having others to feed- kinda felt like having more children!"

Luna giggled as she turned away, but stopped when Jack called out, "Wait!"

"Yes, Jack?" Luna asked she turned back to face the young brunette.

"Ara… can you… um… thank Harry for defending me at first?" she asked, looking down shyly in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.

Luna giggled again at the flustered Jack and nodded. "Of course, Jack. I'll be sure to let him know," she told her.

"T-thanks."

"No problem. Good night, Jack, Ma, Babbo," Luna bid them, then walked out the door after her lovers, the good-night's of the others echoing in her ears.

It was a short walk to where Harry had set up their tent, a standard Wizarding tent with a standard expansion enchantment, a low bed, and nothing else. Seeing that her guess had been right- Harry and Gabrielle were already naked and the petite Veela was deepthroating Harry, much to his pleasure. Luna quickly performed some toiletry spells, secured the tent flap, and, sure that there was nothing else that needed doing, stripped herself naked and joined her lovers in their play.

It would be another hour or two before the occupants of the tent were asleep.

OoOoO

_Fire. Smoke. Death. Harry could only watch as Ottery St. Catchpole burned around him. Before him was the Burrow, the only home not burning… though that was hardly any comfort, for instead of at least having the that one, sweet second of hope that they had made it out before the fire, he had the cold certainty that the closest thing he had to a family was dead._

_He could see Mr. Weasley laying there, a look of surprise still on his face as he felt the AK hit him in the back. Mrs. Weasley, with a hole blown through her stomach- her death must have been agonizingly slow, as she bled out while forced to watch her family murdered. Fred and George, both decapitated. Charlie, in a moment of sick irony, was still burning on the lawn. Percy was cut nearly in half, the only thing holding him together was his partially severed spine. Penny, Percy's wife of barely a year, seemed to have had her throat slit. Ginny looked to have been AK'ed like her father, which, considering the way the war was going, could very well have been a minor miracle._

_And Ron…_

"_Hello, Harry. Fancy seeing you here."_

_In the middle of the slaughter stood Ron, wand still drawn from when he killed his little sister and his Dark Mark displayed for the world to see. His lips were stretched in a mad grin, his eyes blazing with insanity._

"_Why would you…?" Harry asked as he drew his own wand, "Your family stands against everything those fuckers believe in!"_

"_Why?" Ron gave a mad little giggle. "Because, Boy-Who-Lived, they were in my way. They were better than me. They liked you more than they liked me. Take your pick, I've got more."_

_When Harry didn't say anything- couldn't say anything- Ron continued, "Bill, the curse breaker, the one who landed a Veela wife. Charlie, the cool one, the Dragon handler. Percy, the good boy. George and Fred- or would that be Forge and Gred?- the tricksters. Ginny, beloved sister. Mummy dearest, the all-patient mother. Daddy dearest, the miracle worker. And there was me, little ickle Ronnikins, the side-kick. Even you, the outsider, the one that was never one of us, was better then me." Ron giggled and spread his arms wide, in a sick parody of a child showing his parents something he was particularly proud of. "Well, now it's just me, you, and Bill, and as soon as I bring you to my Lord, it'll be just me, my brother's Veela whore, and the whore's little sister." He licked his lips. "I'm sure I'll enjoy them…"_

_Then he grinned in what could only be insanity-driven lust. "…After all, I certainly enjoyed the little angel…well, she wasn't much of an angel after I was done with her, but… meh."_

_Harry could only stare in horror as the full weight of how badly Ron had betrayed them crashed down on him. "It was you… you're the one who kidnapped Gabrielle."_

"_Well, of course! How else do you think she just… DISAPPEARED in the middle of a heavily warded field? I took her. I brought her to my fellows. Then we had some fun with our prize." He gave him wink. "For my part, they let me take the little angel's halo." He laughed, as if at some brilliant joke. "Oh, how she screamed, calling for her mother, her father, her sister… even you, at one point, while I was taking her… other halo, if you know what I mean." He gave another wink, as if sharing some secret with a good friend._

"_You're… you're a monster…" Harry found himself saying, in shock._

"_Why, yes, yes I am!" Ron agreed, "And you're Harry Potter, monster slayer, apparently! The Harvester, or something like that, I think they are calling you nowadays. You know, have you given thought to just changing your name to Harry 'Insert-Many-Nicknames-Here' Potter?" He took on a thinking pose. "While we're at it, you know what you should change your name to? The-Boy-Who-Gets-Everything. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? More so, since it's so true. You had money. You had fans. You had fame. Hell, you even got that family you wanted… well…" He looked around, as if just realizing he was surrounded by the bodies of his family. "…You HAD a family, but it my Lord has taken that from you… again." Then he laughed, then snarled, going from happy to angry in a blink of an eye. "And of course… you had Hermione."_

"_Hermione always loved you, Ron. I was her brother, nothing more, and nothing less."_

_Ron barked out an insane laugh. "Are you fucking kidding me? Please! She was wet for you since first year! She was always yours… but I fixed that, too."_

_Harry felt himself growing cold. "You… no… you couldn't have…"_

_Ron continued speaking, but Harry didn't hear any of it. He was still in shock that Ron- Ron, of all people- could be a Death Eater. The boy he'd grown up with, shared his misadventures with, fought side by side with, had become a monster._

_A monster…_

"…_So, I've taken your family, and I've taken Hermione. The only thing left now is to take your dignity, and I'm sure the Dark Lord will let me after I bring you to him." Ron raised his wand. "Now, hold still. _Stupi…fy_?"_

_Ron trailed off as he stared at where his wand hand had previously been, now nothing more then a stump. Harry hadn't even incanted his _diffindo_, just slashed his hand down almost before he knew what he was doing. Another slash, this time across, and Ron was suddenly missing his legs from below his knees. Ron started screaming as Harry walked up to his crippled ex-best-friend._

_As he got closer, he felt the wards he'd thrown up around them flash as Ron tried to apparate out, then flashed again when he tried to use a portkey. Seeing that he couldn't escape, Ron resorted to begging._

"_Harry, buddy! Please! How 'bout a bit of mercy for your old friend, huh? You wouldn't really kill me, would you?" he asked as Harry reached him. Harry just stared down at him._

_He raised his hand._

"_Wait! I was under the Imperius! I swear! They forced me to do all those things! I- Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!"_

_Harry's gaze was apathetic as he finished dismembering the man before him, this time with a flame whip. He ignored the screaming._

"_P-please… Harry! For the love of Merlin! It's me! Your buddy Ron!"_

"_Ron died the moment you took that mark, Death Eater," Harry said coldly, before tuning out the desperate begging and proceeding to perform a castration with a _reducto_. The scream that followed reached heights the last two couldn't even hope to match._

"_H-harry… w-why?"_

_Harry stared down at the pitiful subhuman before him. "Like you said: I'm a monster-slayer…" He extended a finger to Ron's head. "And you… you are a monster."_

_Ron stared back at him, then laughed. It was the dark, desperate laugh of men who were faced with the gallows. "My L-lord will a-avenge me, Potter. W-when he is done with y-you, you w-will w-wish you were n-never-!"_

_Ron was cut off by a second high-powered _reducto_, this one reducing his head to so much red paste._

"_You Death Eaters talk too much," Harry whispered to the barely-recognizable body, before turning and walking away without a backward glance or another word._

_Around him, Ottery St. Catchpole continued to burn._

OoOoO

Harry's green eyes snapped open to meet Gabrielle's concerned blue. He immediately pulled her into a hug, breathing in her scent-that of rain and wind and storms; her and Luna's scents (running streams and forests and morning dew) always calmed him with out fail whenever he had a nightmare.

"_Mon amour?_" she asked softly, leaving her question unasked, but understood: _Which nightmare did you have this time?_

"Ottery St. Catchpole," Harry told her, before he started kissing down the side of her jaw, then her neck. She moaned as he nipped at the sweet spot he passed on his way down.

"'A-arry?" Gabrielle whimpered, though she wasn't quite sure what she was asking.

"Just… just let me love you for a moment, Gabby…" Harry whispered, before returning to his ministrations. He took an erect nipple into his mouth, and laved it with attention as his hands stroked whatever sensitive spots they could find. Gabrielle gasped and surrendered to his touches.

It wasn't long before he had rolled her under him- being careful not to damage her wings- and proceeded to drive her out of her mind with steady, deep thrusts and judicious use of fingers and tongue. Her scream was swallowed by his mouth on hers as he pushed her past her first peak, then her second, her third… her body, still tired from the night before, finally called it quits after her seventh orgasm in rapid succession, and she blacked out as her body continued twitching from the aftershocks.

Then, much to Harry's surprise, he found himself rolled off of Gabrielle and onto his back, where his erection, now painfully hard, found itself fully sheathed in a smiling Luna. "Good morning, Harry," she greeted as she began to rock to and fro.

"'Morning, Luna," Harry greeted in return, "Sorry if I woke you." He groaned when Luna added a delicious little wiggle to her already maddening rocking, and, deciding she shouldn't have all the fun, started rubbing and gently flicking her clit. He was rewarded by a gasp, then a moan of pleasure.

"You didn't, dear. Now, shut up and love me- we can talk afterwards."

Harry was able to bring her off twice before her ministrations finally pushed him over the edge, the feeling of his seed bathing her insides forcing a third orgasm from her as soon as she came down from her second. They were basking in the afterglow, with Harry still lodged inside Luna and Luna humming softly, when Harry asked, "You know, now that we have the time, I've been wondering: since when could you throw blue fire?"

"Hmm? Oh, that was just my _kitsune-bi_. I AM _kitsune_, after all," she replied lazily from where she was recovering from their bout of wake-up sex.

"But that's just it, Luna- when were you ever _kitsune_? After thinking about it, I could figure out where Gabby got her lightning bolts and wings- the gate we stepped through to this world seems to change us to what our optimal forms would be, and Veela were originally storm nymphs before the years of mingling with other species to reproduce separated their Lightning affinity into separate affinities for Air and Fire, so her stepping through the gate resulted in her reverting to a true Veela, her optimal form," Harry said, sounding out his reasoning process, "But, if that were the case, why are you _kitsune_? I would think you would have turned into one of the fey."

"Harry, did you know Marco Polo was actually one of my ancestors?"

Harry blinked at the non sequitur. "No…" he trailed off uncertainly, not sure where Luna was going with this.

"Well, muggle accounts of his travels don't say this, and the only account of this burned with Raven's Keep, but my great-to-the-sixth-power grandfather, returning from one of his many travels to the Orient, brought with him a demure, silver-haired wife that wore strange robes and was loyal to a fault. Do you know what the word "_kitsune_" actually means?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. It can either mean "always sleeps" or "always comes"…" Harry trailed off again, though this time he was putting the pieces together. Luna could literally see the light of understanding dawning on him. "No!" Harry said, half incredulous and half amused.

Luna giggled. "Yep! Marco Polo's wife- my great-to-the-sixth-power grandmother- was a _kitsune_. I never put two and two together until Gabby asked me about my improved Sight-"

"Improved Sight?" Harry asked, instantly concerned. There was a reason why Seers went insane without proper grounding: contrary to belief, Seeing extended to past, present, and, depending on how powerful the Seer was, various amounts of possible futures, not just one future. Seers also tended to try and follow everything they saw if they didn't have something to take their minds off it, which, as one can guess, eventually drove them mad.

Luna was already the most powerful Seer to grace the Magical World in the last two hundred years BEFORE going through the gate. She'd had himself and Gabby to ground her before, but if her Sight range had increased…

"Along with my improved Sight, I got improved control over what I See, so no worries…" she assured him, then gained a mischievous glint in her eyes as she continued, "Though I certainly wouldn't mind if you decided I needed to be shagged out of my mind more often." She licked her lips in an exaggerated manner, and Harry couldn't help but laugh, his worries forgotten for the moment.

"Greedy minx!" he mock-scolded, before gaining a similar mischievous glint. "…Or should that be fox?" He got a soft slap on his shoulder for his troubles.

"That was horrible, dear."

"Yeah, yeah… so, is this improved Sight of yours telling you anything I should know?"

Luna put a finger to her lips in thought, and Harry had to fight the urge to roll her under him and send her to join Gabrielle in the land of sexual exhaustion. As it was, she noticed when his member went from half to full mast, and wiggled her hips in a teasing manner, making him groan as he started trying harder to remind himself that they had to get up soon.

Ignoring the pleasurable torture she knew she was putting him through, Luna's eyes took on a faraway look as she told him, "Just because she says she doesn't want your help, doesn't mean she won't need it. She thinks she must either be the knight or the princess, and so chooses to wield the sword that will protect her castle and queen. She doesn't know that, whether she believes it or not, she is both, and there are things that any girl has a right to fear, things that she needs a knight to ride in and protect her from." Her eyes took on a slight glow as they focused on him. "When the time comes, you better have that horse saddled and that sword sharpened," she finished.

Harry nodded, took it in, processed it, and filed away in his mind- if there was one thing he'd learned from Luna's riddles, it was that there was no point in trying to figure them out now; the answers would become clear in time for him to use it to his advantage, but not before.

"Now it's my turn to ask you a question," Luna said. Harry just shrugged in compliance.

"Sure, shoot."

"Why did you defend Jack last night? Oh, and speaking of Jack: she wanted to thank you for that, by the way," the blonde asked, before adding the last bit as an afterthought.

Harry shrugged again. "To be honest, I'm really not quite sure. It's just… when Babbo asked her if she fought with everything she had, for one split second… I think I saw fear in her eyes, raw, absolute fear. Something about those werewolves had her spooked, something other than the fact that they're werewolves. But she covered it up so quickly that I can't be sure," he told her, then blinked when he realized something: "Hey, you were talking about Jack at first, weren't you?"

Luna just gave him a Mona Lisa smile in response and wiggled her hips again, forcing all thoughts from Harry's mind other than getting up could wait a bit longer. Luna squealed as Harry rolled her under him, then whimpered as Harry proceeded to turn her world inside out.

OoOoO

Jack was an early riser- always had been, and always would be. It was just one of those things that came with being a farmer.

…Well, that, and the nightmares she'd been having ever since the first confrontation with the Rogelu Brothers kept waking her up just before dawn, where she would just lie in bed for the next half-hour or so before giving up on catching any more sleep and getting up.

Her routine was simple: get up at sunrise, get ready for the day, go out and inspect the crop, have breakfast, do what needed to be done, have lunch, continue doing what needed to be done, have dinner, work on her letters and numbers by candlelight from the small assortment of old textbooks Mama had been able to scrounge up, go to bed, and repeat the next day. It was a simple life she lived with her Mama, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Today, though, was different. She'd woken up and gotten ready for the day, just like she always did, but when she went outside to inspect the crop, she was met with a sight that would stay with her for the rest of her days.

There, a ways from the tent he'd set up the night before and with the sun behind casting his features into shadow, was Harry, one of the travelers from yesterday. He was slowly performing some kind of… dance? No, it was something else, something… fiercer, more primal, something that was deadly and beautiful and just barely tamed. He was only dressed in a pair of pants and nothing else as he went through the graceful motions, and the sun, while hiding his face, gave every rippling muscle definition, highlighting how they flowed as Harry went from one movement to another.

Jack had never seen anything as beautiful as the man before her in her entire young life, and she doubted she would ever see anything that could compare.

She stood there for what seemed like an eternity before her daze was broken by a shout of "HARRY!" from behind her. She quickly spun around to see the child that'd been with them- Chappu, she thought her name was- race past her and jump onto Harry, who had, it seemed, finished doing whatever that was at first and had started toweling himself off. Harry chuckled as he caught her and, in the same move, swung her unto his shoulders.

"Hi Harry!" Chappu chirped through her giggles.

"And a good morning to you, too, Ms. Chappu!" Harry greeted.

Obligatory greetings done with, Chappu immediately put on a pout that elicited a need within the watching Jack to snuggle the ever-living crap out of the adorable little elf girl. She was just able to hold the urge off. "I thought we were going to sleep under the stars

"Hey, what was that 'cha doing at first?" the little girl asked. Harry chuckled as he draped his towel over his shoulders, between Chappu and his neck.

"That, Ms. Chappu, was Tai Chi."

Chappu cocked her head to the side in confusion. "And what's that? Some kind of dance?"

Harry laughed. "Some call it that, that they do. Tai Chi is a martial art- it's a form of fighting."

"Fighting?" Chappu asked, as incredulous as Jack felt- something that graceful was used for fighting? Right. "Seems kinda slow."

"Tai Chi is more about stamina and control, along with being what is called a 'soft' martial art- it uses the opponent's strength against them. The more common type of martial arts- the one you're probably thinking of- is 'hard' martial arts, which depends on your own strength and speed."

"Ooooooh… so Tai Chi makes the other guy do all the fighting?" Chappu asked, surprising both Harry and the watching Jack with her insight.

"Yes, Ms, Chappu, that's essentially it," replied a shocked Harry, but he easily shook it off. "This one was surprised by your brilliant deduction, but I shouldn't be- after all, you are a prodigy, that you are!" he praised. Jack was surprised to find herself a little jealous when the little girl blushed, and squashed it down as soon as possible.

"Hey, where's Gabby and Luna?" Chappu suddenly asked, looking around for her other two traveling companions from the day before. Jack blinked- did Harry just blush?

"Um… they're still asleep, that they are. They were more tired from the traveling than we thought, so I let them stay in," Harry told her, before making an obvious attempt to change the subject. "So, why are you out here, if you don't mind this one asking, Ms. Chappu?"

"Oh! Ma sent me out here to tell you guys that breakfast is ready! Better get there fast! Babbo's already eating, that old meanie!" She crossed her arms gave a cute little huff at the thought of the talking ARM, and Jack once again found herself trying to resist glomping the little girl.

Harry laughed again. "Alright, alright…" he said, taking Chappu off his shoulders and carefully putting her back on the ground. "This one will be right there as soon I wake up the others, okay, Ms. Chappu?"

"Right!" Chappu chirped, before taking off back to the house. "Hurry, though! I don't think I can get Babbo to save enough for you guys!" she called back.

Harry laughed once again, a sexy, crooked grin on his face as he watched the little girl run off. When Chappu was back in the house, he turned that grin on her and waved. "Good morning, Ms. Jacqueline!" he cheerily called out.

Jack shyly waved back, blushing so hard she forgot to correct him on her name. She watched as he went back into the tent, only noticing that her gaze had migrated towards his butt when he bent down to get through the tent flap. She let out an "eep" of embarrassment and hurried back into the house, her original reason for being outside completely forgotten.

OoOoO

"Oro… when will these werewolves come, Ms. Jacqueline?" Harry asked as he rested on the hoe he had borrowed. Breakfast (milk and an omelet made from that strange, melon-like vegetable that the guest still had no name for) had been an hour ago, and Harry had decided to help Jack with her farming while the girls had went off to help Ma with… whatever Ma during the day. Babbo had followed Harry to observe, apparently, because he wasn't helping at all.

Jack was trying her hardest to concentrate on her work, and not on the fact that Harry wasn't wearing his cloak, or the way the shirt Harry was wearing slid over his chest and shoulders only reminded her of earlier that morning, or how his rolled-up sleeves showed that his arms were, while not as bulky as some men she'd seen, was still nicely muscled. "Tonight," she answered, keeping her back turned to him to hide the perpetual blush she'd developed after watching his morning workout. "They always come the night after they leave their warning… and it's Jack, not Jacqueline," she explained, then added as an afterthought.

Harry smiled and shook his head in amusement. "If you say so, Miss… Jack," he said. His amusement left quickly afterwards, though, and he was all business again when he continued. "In gratitude for letting us stay with you and your mother, please allow Mr. Babbo and I to take care of your… pest problem," he proposed.

"Wait, what?" Babbo squawked from where he'd been half dozing in the sun, "Now why would I go and do that?"

"You claim to be a gentleman, do you not, Mr. Babbo?" Harry asked, sending him a mild glare, "A gentleman, amongst other things, helps those in need, that he does. Are you saying you will not help, not only someone in need, but our more-than-generous hostesses? The ones that have fed us and given us shelter for the sole reason that we were travelers?"

"Well… when you put it that way…" Babbo muttered sheepishly, thoroughly chastened.

Jack stood up from her work and turned to the two men (well, a man and a freaky talking ARM, but… meh, semantics). "Thanks, Harry, you're a great guy," she said, "But… no thanks." She turned back to her work. "This is our problem, and you're guests… besides, I… I have to do this on my own," she said, then continued in a much softer voice, one that Harry was just barely able to pick up, "I will not be a coward!"

"But-!"

"Harry, please!" Jack interrupted Harry's protests, "…Please, let me do this."

Harry was just about continue and start laying into her about how there was no way she could take on werewolves when Luna's words from that morning came back to him: "_Just because she says she doesn't need your help, doesn't mean she means it. She thinks she must either be the knight or the princess, and chose to wield the sword that will protect her castle and queen…_"

'Alright, so a little more of the puzzle falls into place,' he realized, 'She knew I would offer my help, but Jack would refuse it… but why? According to Luna, it's some sort of misplaced need to be brave in the face of whatever it is that has her spooked, something that every girl has the right to be afraid of… but there are a lot of things that fit that criteria, and I can't stop her from being a bloody Gryffindor if I don't know what the issue to address is...'

(…Meanwhile, several million versions of Harry Potter, in several million different parallel dimensions, all sneeze simultaneously, then briefly wonder if they're coming down with something, before shrugging and charging off on their latest hair-brained misadventure with no regard for their health or any kind of plan whatsoever.

…Amazingly enough, despite the lack of planning and the astronomically small chances of survival, they all later returned to… wherever as conquering heroes)

Knowing that he still didn't have the whole picture, Harry sighed, deciding to wait it out; he would bow to her decision… for now. "Oro… this one will give you your fight, if that is what you want."

As Jack nodded in thanks and went back to her tilling, Harry started making plans of his own; as he said, she would have her fight, but he would be nearby, and, just like Luna said, he would have his "saddle ready"…

…And his sword sharpened.

OoOoO

The day passed quickly, and it was soon night. Making sure everybody in the house was asleep, Jack quietly snuck out, a hoe tied to her back and a good, sturdy staff in her hands. She took a quick glance towards the lit tent, and, seeing the silhouette of what were undoubtedly three people in sleeping bags, breathed a sigh of relief; everybody was accounted for. Assured that no one was going to be interrupting, she settled down to wait.

She didn't have to wait long.

"Hiya, Jack"

"Just can't get enough of us, eh?"

Jack gulped as she faced down the two extremely large werewolves sporting leering grins standing before her, one tossing up and down a half-eaten vegetable.

The Rogelu Brothers, in the flesh.

"What's that stick?" the tall, skinny one sneered, "Gonna do a little digging in the garden?"

The slightly shorter and wider one snickered as he eyed Jack up and down lustfully. "Or maybe she's finally going to come with us, eh, brother?" he growled, "Maybe our pretty little Jack finally decided she wanted to be a woman?"

Jack fought down the shudder caused by the sense of violation she was feeling and soldiered on, Babbo's words from the night before echoing in her head:

"…_And during that whole time, did you ever fight with your whole heart?_"

"Get off this property," she found herself telling them, "If you tear up this garden one more time…"

"Here comes the line!" the tall one mocked, "If we tear it up WHAT?"

The fat one gave an ugly chuckle. "You'll give us a striptease?"

"No…" She shifted her weight and tensed as she declared, "…I'LL KILL YOU!"

Without a moment of hesitation, of doubt, Jack launched herself at the two werewolves, her staff held at the ready. As she got closer, the words "I will not be afraid" repeated in her head like a mantra.

The two werewolves just watched the charging girl and scoffed, assured in their superiority. "Garu," the tall one said, taking a bite out of the vegetable he'd just picked, "You wanted her, she's all yours."

Garu grinned. "Heh. Excellent," he growled and, with almost a negligent motion, ripped the staff out of Jack's hands and punched her hard enough to send her to the other side of the field. Jack couldn't move for several minutes after she skidded to a stop as immense, deliberating pain raging through her body.

"What's wrong, Jack?" Garu taunted, "I thought you said you were going to…" He broke the staff as easily as if it were a twig. "…Kill us, right?"

Jack struggled to her feet, fighting against the incredible pain that engulfed her body. She spat out some blood and took the hoe off her back. The mantra was joined with Babbo's words, and they blended into a dull roaring in her ears as she readied herself for another attack. Not letting the pain set in, she gave a battle cry and charged in once more.

"Heh, guess I heard right," Garu muttered to himself as he watched the approaching girl, "Good!" His lips curled into a lustful grin as he closed the remaining distance between them and met her hoe with his claw.

"…'Cause I like them with a little SPUNK!"

OoOoO

The other werewolf watched as his brother played with Jack. He shook his head in amusement. "That Garu… always the lady's man!" he chuckled, before turning back to his meal. He knew it was strange for werewolves to be vegetarians, but couldn't really bring himself to care. After all, it wasn't like they were going to be made fun of- their reputation wasn't for nothing, as they'd made up for their disinterest in meat with their healthy interest in sheer brutality.

"_Ruga…_"

Ruga, eldest of the Rogelu Brothers, looked up from his musings just in time to see a rather… androgynous man dressed in a ceremonial robe and hat appear out of thin air.

"…If you're not to busy playing your stupid games, I have a job for you," the man said in a condescending tone, "an ARMs search!"

"Peta! My man!" Ruga greeted, "Another ARM?"

Peta nodded. "This one is very rare," he explained, "Near here is a cave called the 'Seal of Babbo.' Many a bandit I've dispatched to seize the ARM that rests there, but not one has returned."

"And you expect US to try?" Ruga asked incredulously.

"No," Peta assured with a shake of his head, "Yesterday we heard from the latest gang to attempt the cave. The treasure box was empty!"

Ruga whistled in appreciation. "So someone actually took it, eh?"

"We've been sending men in regularly. It had to be taken within the last few days," Peta said, "In other words, whoever has the mysterious ARM called Babbo… must still be nearby! Whoever finds that thief and steals the ARM will be given fifty million pewters!"

Ruga laughed. "Then count us in!" he cheered, "But we still got some eatin' to do, and Garu will probably want to have some fun with the girl he's fighting, so hang on." He tossed Peta one of the vegetables, which the other man easily caught. "Here, have some. They're pretty damn good!"

Peta studied the vegetable in his hands for a moment, took a bite, and promptly threw the rest to the ground. "Disgusting," he spat as he stomped it into the ground.

Ruga kept his sigh to himself as he stared at the remains; what a waste of good food…

OoOoO

Jack cried out in pain as she fell to her knees, her hoe broken from when she'd used it to block a blow that would have most likely ruptured her already bruised organs. Must to her chagrin, her opponent didn't even look tired.

"Yo, Jack," Garu said conversationally, as if he hadn't spent the last five minutes pounding on her, "I gotta be honest: I don't want to lose these yummy veggies. We'd be fools to kill the girl that grows them… that, and I still want to have my fun with you…"

Jack squashed down her horror at those words, telling herself that she should not be afraid. Horror, though, turned to shock, then anger at the werewolf's next words:

"…So, we'll kill your mom instead."

Garu continued, hungrily eyeing the undamaged vegetables around him, "I mean, you're the one with the miraculous green thumb, right? So as long as you're around, we still got our garden…" His sight turned on Jack, and it was filled with a different kind of hunger. "…And, of course, I still gotta show you a good time… make you a woman, if you know what I mean. But…" his leer was joined by a smirk, "…We DO have to punish you for hitting me, so the old hag will be your lesson."

Jack found she couldn't move as an image of her mother flashed before her eyes. Then it was her mother being ripped apart by the werewolf before her, and rage filled her. They could insult her, beat her till she was a bloody smear on the ground, hell, they could do whatever the hell they wanted to her, but like HELL she was going to let them near Mama!

Feeling anger-fueled strength course through her, she shot to her feet and held out her arm, on the end of which dangled her most prized possession, and something she'd sworn she would never use: the ARM her father had left her. She'd never felt right about using it, as it had felt like it was something that was her father's and solely his…

…But to protect Mama…

Unbidden, a memory came to her, and the words of her Mama echoed in her head: "_Vegetables I can always plant more of… But I could never get another you, Jack… you're my flesh and blood, my little Jacqueline…_"

"…Are you nuts?" Garu asked incredulously, knowing an ARM when he saw one, "Don't get cocky, girly! Use that thing and all bets are off! You will DIE!"

"…If it means my Mama lives…" Jack whispered to herself as she pumped her magic into the ARM. There was a "chink!" as the charm on the end of the bracelet chain broke off, and she finished her declaration, her voice raised in determination, "…Then I would GLADLY give my life! WEAPON ARM: BATTLE SHOVEL!"

As soon as the call left her lips, the charm that had detached grew and expanded into a shovel that slammed tip first into the earth. She ripped it out of the ground and, while Garu was still in shock over her gall, took a swipe at the werewolf's head. A resounding crack was heard as Garu suddenly found himself missing several teeth, and shocked silence descended upon the two combatants.

Then there was a growl, and Jack braced herself, knowing that she was absolutely and completely FUCKED.

"Oh Jack, you stupid, stupid girl…" Garu said in a surprisingly calm voice… right before vanishing and reappearing right in front of Jack, his claws already raised to strike her. "…YOU SEALED IT," he finished, then proceeded to rain down blow after rapid, powerful blow. Jack was barely able to bring her shovel up to block the first three before a brutal uppercut got past her defenses, ripping what remained of her heavily damaged clothes off and sending her into the air. She crashed down a little ways away from her attacker, too tired and in too much pain to move, her panties and the tattered remains of her shirt the only thing preserving her dignity. Her shovel landed a ways from her and disappeared, and she could only look up helplessly as Garu's sneering visage appeared before her.

"…You know… it would be a real pity for a pretty little thing like you to die…" he growled out, eyeing her hungrily. "…But you just had to go and bring out that ARM of yours. But don't worry… I'm gonna make sure you're real happy before I let you go… then I'm going to send your ma right behind you, just like I promised…"

As Garu reached a furry claw for her, Jack whimpered and closed her eyes, knowing she had lost, and that those nightmares she'd been having for the last year were about to come true…

Clink.

…Against her better judgment, Jack cautiously opened her eyes when she heard the unmistakable sound of claws meeting metal, knowing it was probably just Garu taking off his shoulder armor, but praying it was something- anything- else.

But then she finally comprehended what she was seeing through her concussion-induced haze, and relief blossomed in her chest, as, against all odds, it seemed her desperate prayers had been answered:

There before her, easily holding the werewolf's claw at bay with the giant war-hammer he held easily in one hand, stood Harry. Flanking either side of him were Gabrielle and Luna, the younger blonde with her wings stretched out and her hands crackling with purple lightning, and the older blonde with her vulpine ears laid flat against her head, her tail whipping about in agitation, and both hands glowing with blue fire.

Knowing she was safe, Jack finally surrendered herself to the sweet embrace of unconsciousness, her last thought being how, with the moon shining down and giving them an ethereal glow, it had looked like she was being rescued by three guardian angels…

OoOoO

Harry smiled softly as he gazed down upon the unconscious Jack. After applying a few illusions to the face of their tent, the three of them had hid and watched the rather one-sided battle between their hostess and the werewolf intruders. Harry had to admit, the girl had brass ones the size of church bells- she'd taken blow after blow, both physical and psychological, and still got up for more, all to protect her mother.

If they'd had more people like her on their side during the war, he bet they probably wouldn't have had so many casualties.

"Good job, Jack," he whispered to the unconscious girl, putting her in stasis with a small wave of his unoccupied hand, "You fought well." Turning to Luna and Gabrielle, who were both in defensive stances, he ordered, "Get Jack back inside the house and start healing her. I'll handle things from here."

"Yes, sir!" they both saluted, having automatically switched to a military mindset when faced with a combat situation. The lightning and fire immediately disappeared from their hands, and, with a swift precision only seen in those that were used to taking orders in the middle of a battle, quickly enchanted a melon with a silent _portus_. The portkey was then gently laid on Jack's badly bruised stomach and activated, pulling all three back to the house.

Sure that the girls were gone, Harry finally turned his complete attention on Garu, who had been so bewildered by the three strangers appearing out of nowhere, then the two hot, blonde strangers and his prize disappearing just as suddenly, that he hadn't made a move for the entire time it was happening. Of course, when he finally did shake himself from his stupor, he was understandably annoyed.

"What the fuck, little man? She was mine!" he growled, glaring down at the insect that had DARED cock-block him. Much to his further annoyance, though, the man didn't even have the decency to look scared.

"…I disagree, Mr. Garu," Harry said, his eyes hidden behind his bangs. His tone was easy, and he was even smiling pleasantly, but something about him suddenly set Garu on edge. He pushed it to the back of his mind, though, and instead continued trying to overpower his opponent. Even so, a small part of his mind was shocked when the war-hammer didn't give an inch. Was the weapon some kind of Strengthening Nature ARM?

"Nobody cares if you agree or not! Get out of the way, little man!" Garu snarled, never letting up in his attempt to rip the little bug apart, "This is none of your business!"

"On the contrary," Harry replied easily, as if he didn't notice that he was having a contest of strength with a giant, pissed-off werewolf. "They let this one and his companions stay with them, so it is this one's business when you attempt to rape and kill this one's hostesses." He brought up the other end of his war-hammer when Garu threw a punch at him with his other claw, blocking it as he continued without missing a beat, "…That," Harry continued, finally looking up. Garu nearly recoiled in fear as he met the emerald green eyes of his opponent, eyes that promised eternal pain even as that easy smile from earlier never wavered, "…And I absolutely DESPISE rapists."

"F-fuck you! J-just shut up and die!" Garu roared, allowing his anger to rule his mind once again and pushing at the war-hammer with all his might. When that didn't work, he withdrew and started throwing strike after desperate strike at his opponent, only to become even more angry as he watched the man dodge or block all his blows.

"Stop moving, and I might consider making your death only relatively painless!" Garu growled after several minutes, angry and even more scared than before. It was getting harder to push down his fear, as the man nonchalantly deadlocked them again with one hand. He quirked an eyebrow.

"Relatively? Shouldn't that be just 'painless'?" Harry asked, his breath steady. He wasn't even breathing hard! That was impossible! Even with Strengthening ARMs he should still be struggling, if only a little bit!

"You're pissing me off. I have to make it somewhat painful," Garu answered, his voice strained from both attempting to break the deadlock and swallowing his rapidly growing fear. The war-hammer didn't even budge.

"Oh, I see," Harry replied with a blink, "Well, no one will be dying here either way tonight… though you WILL be in a lot of pain in several seconds." Then his lips curled into a feral grin, and Garu found his fear breaking free from its restraints, this smile somehow frightening him even worse than the unnaturally easy smile his opponent had sported throughout the fight.

"By the way, don't look down," Harry added, that feral grin never wavering. As was the nature of such warnings, Garu couldn't help but look down when he heard those words.

While he missed seeing his opponent flicking his unoccupied wrist up as if he were yanking up a yo-yo, he was able to witness the sight of a big metal sphere rocketing straight up between his legs.

OoOoO

Ruga watched as Garu landed the finishing blow on Jack, then turned back to Peta, not wanting to watch his brother get it on. Seriously, that boy had no shame…

"You're not going to take her ARM?" he asked the other man as he picked another vegetable and bit into it. He hoped Jack would still be alive afterwards; these vegetables were really, really good- some of the best he'd ever tasted, actually- and it would be a shame to lose them just because his brother went a little too far and broke his toy.

Peta snorted derisively. "It's outmoded. No value." He turned away as he continued, "I'm going to see the other bandit groups."

"You go do that," Ruga muttered absently, finishing his vegetable and picking another. "Man! Don't know who's messenger he is, but I always get the creeps when I see 'im-"

Any further ranting was violently interrupted by a loud crack, followed by a high-pitched squeal of absolute pain that trailed off into pathetic whimpers. The two men turned just in time to see someone that hadn't been there seconds before standing over the downed form of Garu, who was curled up and clutching at his groin in obvious agony. Ruga and Peta both turned green and unconsciously crossed their legs in sympathy as they came to the obvious conclusion of what had happened.

"That's… that ain't right…" Ruga muttered in numb shock, while Peta- normally contemptuous, more-than-slightly sadistic, overall git Peta- just nodded, equally numb, trying not to imagine what the pain the poor bastard was in must be like.

"That ain't right AT ALL…" Ruga continued, still numb from watching such horror. Peta nodded again, but this time he'd recovered enough to notice something interesting- while the war-hammer the stranger was carrying was larger than he remembered, the bouncing metal ball attached to it by a chain was a dead giveaway:

It looked like he'd just found Babbo, the ARM of choice of his master, Phantom.

Despite the horror he could still feel for the safety of his family jewels, he let his lips curl into a grin of triumph as he activated his Andata, vanishing without a sound or warning from Ruga's side. He had plans to put into motion and wayward ARMs to retrieve.

After all, Phantom would want his old weapon back when he awakened once again.

…Well, that, and the guy who had brought Garu down in such a horrible way was now looking at him. He might have the Blood Body ARM on him, but he really, REALLY didn't want to see if being able to turn his body into blood would protect him from having his balls busted…

OoOoO

Harry turned his attention to the other Rogelu brother when the stranger who had been with him vanished as soon as he looked in his direction. He didn't blame the guy, to be honest- nobody wanted to even think about getting hit in the balls. As it was, the only thing keeping him from sympathizing with the poor bastard on the ground before him was the knowledge that the little rapist had asked for it.

Harry studied the remaining werewolf carefully, sizing him up. Hm… standard werewolf, seasoned, if his ability to hold an intelligent conversation was anything to go by, and by his build he didn't have access to magic, so he was a purely physical fighter, much like his brother.

All in all, he wouldn't have been a problem during the war, and since then Harry had gotten upgraded when he obtained the Necros Wand, learned martial arts under the greatest martial artist in the last millennia or so, learned magic under three honest-to-goodness goddesses, and gotten optimized by passing through the gate that had brought him and his girls here.

Final conclusion: this fight was going to be just as easy as his last one.

…Let's get round two started.

"So…" he called out, resting his war-hammer on his shoulder, "…Are you just going to surrender, or are we going to have to fight, too?"

Ruga thought about it for a moment, weighing the pros and the cons of fighting the man who had disgraced his brother so. On the one hand, this was his brother he was talking about- you don't just leave family hanging like that, blood was thicker than water, and so on and so forth.

But on the other hand, he really, really didn't want to get his balls busted.

The choice was obvious, really.

"I give! I give!" Ruga returned, raising his hands in surrender while silently apologizing to his brother.

He was sure Garu would understand.

Harry blinked, then smiled, deciding that he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Good!" he chirped, "Now, hold still…" He flicked his hand, and, before Ruga knew it, the werewolf was unconscious, courtesy of a high-powered stunner.

OoOoO

Gabrielle and Luna appeared inside the house, the faint pop startling the awake Ma and Chappu. Of course, their surprise at the sudden appearance was nothing compared to the horror they felt when they saw Jack's condition.

"JACK!" Ma cried out at the sight of her beaten and battered daughter. She immediately tried to rush to her side, but was held back by the surprisingly strong grip of Luna. "Let me go, damn it! I have to help my daughter!" she growled, fighting Luna's hold on her. Frustratingly, the blonde wouldn't budge.

"Only if you calm down, Ma," Luna calmly told her, "Gabby can't heal Jack with you distracting her, and that's the only thing you will do if you tried to help."

Ma growled again, but settled down when she noticed, for the first time, the strange, green glow coming from the younger blonde's hands, which were laid, palm down on Jack's stomach and chest, right above the valley between her now-bare breasts.

"What… what is she doing?" Ma asked, then, realizing that the magic was being channeled without a focus, asked a more relevant question: "HOW is she doing that?"

"As I said earlier, Gabby is healing Jack," Luna answered, addressing Ma's questions in the order they were asked, "And how she is doing that… the magic of our homeland is different from those you have here."

"Different? How?" Chappu, who had joined them after being wakened by Ma's cries of worry, asked. Though her traveling companions (Who, she was surprised to find, were quickly becoming her elder siblings- she had never trusted people this quickly before, but something about them put her at ease… she was actually beginning to regret having to steal Babbo later…) had told her much about their mysterious homeland when she had asked during their trip through the forest- she really, really wanted to see these buildings they had said were tall enough to scrape the sky- they had never talked about their magic, and she found herself curious if whether there was any differences.

"While we do use foci- usually in the form of wands- to channel magic, it is not a requirement, as you can see here," Gabrielle continued from her place beside Jack, eyes closed and hands still glowing, "While it seems that, for the most part, the magic of this land is focused around rune strings and arrays in the form of magical artifacts, we weave strands of magic into certain patterns ourselves, only needing runes with the really big stuff, like time travel and reanimating the dead."

"WHAT?" Ma and Chappu both shouted, completely freaked out by the last two.

"What do you mean, what?" Luna asked with a blink, even though she was perfectly aware of what had them so scared.

"You people can time travel? And bring back the dead?"

"Don't worry," Luna assured, "The form of time travel we developed is so limited and has so many potential dangers inherent in it that its pretty much useless, and as for the other thing… well, perfect revival is impossible, and only the really, really evil would even think about creating inferi- reanimated corpses that have no thought other than to eat."

Gabrielle chose this moment to open her eyes and stretch. "All done!" she exclaimed, "She'll sleep until tomorrow afternoon, and probably be quite sore upon awakening, but she should make a full recovery!"

Ma, desperate for something else to think about other than the scary magic her guests could apparently wield, took to studying her unconscious daughter and, much to her amazement, found that the petite blonde hadn't been exaggerating her assessment: Jack no longer had a scratch on her, and she was sleeping peacefully. If she didn't know any better- and Jack's clothes didn't look like they'd gotten into a fight with a pair of scissors and lost- she would have thought her little girl had never went off and almost gotten herself killed.

Ma looked up from her inspection and into Gabrielle's eyes. "This is amazing…" she said, her fear from moments before replaced with awe, "Do you… specialize in healing, Gabrielle?"

Gabrielle blushed and shyly waved away the compliment. "_S'il vous plait, madame_, call me Gabby- all my friends do," she told her sheepishly, "And I wouldn't say I specialize…"

"Gabby," Luna interjected, "You're the first White Mage in five hundred years, and the most powerful in a millennium." She then explained to the confused audience, "A White Mage is a magic user of our homeland with a nearly supernatural affinity to 'White' or 'Holy' magic- healing, exorcism, and defense spells."

"Wow… what other types of magic are there?" Chappu asked, entranced.

"Well, there's Transfiguration, its child branch, Conjuration, Charms, Runes, Divination-" Luna began, but was interrupted by Gabrielle.

"All of which Luna is considered a Mistress of, by the way- she's the first Enchantress in five hundred years, and the most powerful Seer in the last two hundred," Gabrielle told their increasingly amazed audience, shooting the pouting Luna a smug look- If her sister-girlfriend could drag out her accomplishments, then so could she!

"Okay, I've heard of Seers before, but what is an Enchantress?" Ma asked.

"And what's a Mistress?" Chappu added.

"Well," Gabrielle began, "For a normal person, transfiguration- the magic of changing the fundamental nature of something- conjuration- the creation of something using pure magic- and charms- the magic of bestowing a property or properties upon something- are never permanent, and I don't know about ARMs, but the magical artifacts of our homeland will eventually run down."

"We have that problem, too," Ma confirmed with a nod.

"_Vraiment_? Then you're going to like this: the magic of an Enchantress is permanent."

There was silence for a moment as Luna palmed her face in exasperation, Chappu looked around wondering why what Gabrielle had just said was so important, and Ma tried to comprehend what she'd just heard.

"Run that by me again?" Ma finally said, not sure she'd heard right.

"Anything Luna changes remains changed forever, anything Luna creates will stay until it is banished or destroyed, anything Luna charms will contain that property forever, and any rune string or array Luna makes will continue to weave magic like it is supposed to until something disrupts it- it will never, ever run down."

"That's… incredible!" Ma exclaimed, both her and Chappu, who now understood why Luna was so special, staring at the pouting girl in awe. If she ever decided to go into ARM development, she could make a fortune! All the kingdoms would be going to her to make their heavy-duty defense ARMs, since they would save fortunes on maintenance.

"_Ce n'est pas juste?_" Gabrielle replied smugly, "And being a Mistress means she is Extremely- and I say that with a capital 'E'- proficient with those fields." Luna gave her a gentle slap on her shoulder and a semi-mock glare, which got a- literally- angelic smile of innocence in return. Luna made a note to… 'punish' Gabrielle for her impudence at a later date.

"Yeah, yeah… it's not that impressive," the older blonde groused, "Anyways, as I was saying before… the other branches of magic we have are potions and its predecessor, alchemy, Space-Time Magic, Mind Arts, Black Magic, and Dark Magic."

"Um… aren't the last two the same?" Ma wearily asked, back on uncomfortable ground.

"Many would think so, but _non_, they are not," Gabrielle explained, "_Les Magies Noires_- the Black Magics- are basically another name for magics used primarily for battle…"

"…While Dark Magic is the evil stuff: virgin sacrifices, demon summoning, raising of the undead, etc., etc.," Luna finished with a disgusted look on her face, as if just talking about such things made her sick… which it did, in all honestly; talking about it had reminded her of some of the things she'd seen during the war, like the remains of Dark rituals performed by Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Those had given her nightmares for weeks, especially since every time she stumbled upon one, she Saw exactly what had happened, what the Death Eaters and Voldemort chanted, how many victims there were, how they were killed, how much they were made to suffer first…

"Oh…" Ma said, looking a little relieved by Gabrielle and Luna's matching reactions to talking about Dark Magic- they obviously hated it. Then she looked around, noticing for the first time that two of their numbers were gone.

"Hey… where's Harry and Babbo?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"Oh, they're taking care of the werewolves," Luna replied almost absently.

"WHAT?" Ma cried out in shock, her worry increased exponentially by those words, "They're fighting the Rogelu Brothers by themselves? Are they mad? They'll be killed!"

Not a second after her words were spoken, there was a resounding crack from outside, followed by a squeal of pain that trailed off into a pathetic whimper. Ma rushed to the window to see what had happened while Luna followed at a more sedate pace. Upon seeing Garu curled up in pain at Harry's feet, Luna turned to Ma and gave her a feral grin, one that was only made more so by her slightly longer-than-normal canines. "Actually, I do believe it's the Rogelu brothers that will be at a disadvantage."

"Harry will be fine, Ma," Gabrielle added from her place beside Jack, "This isn't the first time he's fought werewolves, after all."

Ma blinked, still trying to process what she'd seen. When she found her voice again, she had to ask, "He's fought werewolves before?"

"_Oui_," Gabrielle answered, "You see, while I am a White Mage, and Luna is an Enchantress and Seer, _mon_ Harry is an a Battle Mage."

"Battle Mage?" Ma asked.

"Just as the name suggests, Harry's specialty lies in battle," Luna explained, "Along with being more physically fit than most magic users and being an expert in wielding the staff and at least one other weapon, he is also extremely skilled with Black Magic, knows enough White Magic to save a life on the battlefield, knows more than enough Charms, Transfiguration, Conjuration to make just about any environment into his opponent's nightmare… he even has passing knowledge on Summoning and Dark Magic, for when he has to take down the occasional demon and Gabby isn't around to purify it."

Gabrielle then took up the explanation: "And before we started our wanderings, we were soldiers fighting in a civil war that engulfed our homeland, a war in which the other side had no compunctions about using rogue werewolves, among other things. Suffice to say, all three of us have had experience dealing with the buggers, especially Harry, since he's a frontline fighter."

"So, as you can see," Luna finished, giving them an easy, carefree smile, "We have nothing to worry about!"

As if on cue, as soon as she finished speaking, her ears perked up and she turned to face the door. "…In fact, that would be them now," she announced, just a touch smugly. Moments later, voices could be heard approaching the house, voices that could easily be identified as Harry and Babbo.

"…Nightmares! I'm going to have nightmares of myself touching… that part of his anatomy for the rest of my life! How could you DO that to me, Harry? Unclean! I feel so unclean!"

"Sorry, sorry, a thousand apologies, Mr. Babbo…"

"You enemy of gentlemen! You utter bastard! Why would you do such a thing to me?"

"…He was about to kill Ma, then rape and kill Jack, and this one wanted him to suffer for even thinking so. You were in the right place at the right time, that is all."

"…"

"…"

"…Well, I guess I can forgive you doing something like that to me just this once, but only because the intention behind it was gentlemanly."

"Thank you, Mr. Babbo. Once again, this one is sorry for… that."

"As long as it doesn't happen ever again… so, why isn't he dead? He would certainly deserve it for what he was planning."

"This one promised a friend he wouldn't kill unless under extreme distress… well, that, and this one had an idea."

Luna chose that moment to open the door to greet the conquering heroes, only to blink in shock as she took in the sight of Harry hefting Babbo's cup/war-hammer, Babbo himself on the ground next to her lover, and the two chain-bound and unconscious werewolves floating behind them.

"Dear… I know you promised Ranma-sensei that your first reaction won't be to kill on sight anymore, but why exactly did you bring them back with you?" she asked Harry incredulously, then she took up a long suffering look as she voiced a strange idea that had popped into her head, "You're not going to ask if you can keep them, are you? I know the Dursley's never let you have a pet, love, but I hardly think taking in two werewolves is the answer. Wouldn't you rather start out small, like with a goldfish, perhaps?"

"Luna… I'm not keeping these two idiots, I just had an idea as to what punishment should be given to them," Harry told her, then sighed, "Why would you even think I would?"

"Well…" Luna began, but was interrupted by Ma joining her to see what the commotion was about.

"Is anything wro…?" she began to ask, but then saw the two unconscious werewolves and screamed in fear. "W-W-WHAT ARE THEY DOING HERE?"

Harry smirked in response. "Don't worry, Ma, this one has an idea!" he chirped, then turned back to Luna and said, "I'm going to need your help with it, though."

"Alright…" Luna hesitantly agreed, wondering what her lover had planned. Then Harry leaned in and whispered his plan into her ear, and all hesitance was gone, replaced with the need to giggle uncontrollably and in a vaguely evil manner… a need she succumbed to rather quickly. When Gabrielle walked up and asked what was going on, Harry whispered the plan to her as well, and the angelic blonde proved that she wasn't quite so angelic by breaking into evil giggles along side her sister-girlfriend.

"Oh, that is evil! Absolutely evil!" she was able to gasp out between giggles.

Harry just smirked. "Eh, I try," he replied with a shrug.

Meanwhile, Ma and Babbo had looked between the giggling girls and the smirking man, looked at each other, and knew that they were sharing the exact same thought: poor werewolves. One could almost feel sorry for them.

Almost.

OoOoO

X

OoOoO

Translations:

_Ce n'est pas juste? _- Isn't it just?

OoOoO

A/N: Ugh… not my best work.

…For all of you who are STILL wondering who Fem!Jack is based on, her basis is Otohime Mutsumi of _Love Hina_ fame. Like I said- obvious, right?

Next time, on _Two Blondes and a Reaper_: Justice, Jusenkyo Style! What? You thought I wouldn't include Ranma in this 'verse and not have Harry come in some kind of contact with the Pools of Sorrows?

Review!


	5. Chapter 4: Justice, Jusenkyo Style

A/N: I'M BAAAAAACK! I know it's been nearly two years, and I am so, so sorry, but I have a somewhat legitimate excuse: college. I ran into some scholastic problems and it took until... well, now for me to get the inspiration to finish this chapter. To make it up to everyone, along with this I'm also posting two new _Harry Potter_ fics, one a crossover with _Familiar of Zero_, the other another crossover that's more of a challenge than an actual fic, this time with _Code Geass_. Also, since I'm relatively sure I won't be running into any more troubles in college, you can all rest assured that you will be seeing more frequent updates from now on!

Now, without further, here's the long awaited fourth chapter of _Two Blondes and a Reaper_.

OoOoO

X

OoOoO

_Last Time, on _Two Blondes and a Reaper_:_

_Harry smirked in response. "Don't worry, Ma, this one has an idea!" he chirped, then turned back to Luna and said, "I'm going to need your help with it, though."_

_"Alright…" Luna hesitantly agreed, wondering what her lover had planned. Then Harry leaned in and whispered his plan into her ear, and all hesitance was gone, replaced with the need to giggle uncontrollably and in a vaguely evil manner… a need she succumbed to rather quickly. When Gabrielle walked up and asked what was going on, Harry whispered the plan to her as well, and the angelic blonde proved that she wasn't quite so angelic by breaking into evil giggles along side her sister-girlfriend._

_"Oh, that is evil! Absolutely evil!" she was able to gasp out between giggles._

_Harry just smirked. "Eh, I try," he replied with a shrug._

_Meanwhile, Ma and Babbo had looked between the giggling girls and the smirking man, looked at each other, and knew that they were sharing the exact same thought: poor werewolves. One could almost feel sorry for them._

_Almost._

OoOoO

X

OoOoO

Chapter 4: Justice, Jusenkyo Style

"Oro oro… time to wake up, Mr. Garu, Mr. Ruga!"

Ruga slowly became aware of an annoyingly chirpy voice and the feeling of being poked in the ribs repeatedly. After the third poke, he made to take a swipe at the annoyance, only to find that something was restraining his arm. An attempt with his other arm got the same result, and Ruga quickly came awake as he realized he was chained to the ground.

"Oh, good! You're both awake!" that same annoyingly chirpy voice… well, chirped. Ruga looked up to see the man who had literally busted his brother's balls the night before smiling down at him in a disarming manner that, for some strange reason, sent chills down his spine. Ruga quickly turned away to avoid seeing that disturbing smile longer than he had to, and instead turned his attention to his little brother.

Like himself, Garu was awake and just as restrained, though he seemed to be in pain and not just a little pissed, as opposed to the nervousness and slight fear Ruga was experiencing. Understandable, given the circumstances- he HAD been whacked right in the balls, after all. He was allowed to be pissed… just like how Ruga was allowed to be scared after seeing something so horrifying.

"You fucking BASTARD! I'm going to tear you apart as soon as I get out of these damn chains!" Garu roared, nearly frothing at the mouth. It might have been more intimidating if his voice hadn't been so squeaky, so Ruga wasn't all that surprised when his brother's threat was ignored. Instead, the man continued to smile as he held up a bottle to their faces, slightly swishing the contents within.

"Do you know what this is, Mr. Garu and Mr. Ruga?" he asked. When neither brother answered him, one from vindictive rage and one from genuine confusion, his smile grew just the slightest bit bigger… and quite a bit scarier. "This," he began to explain, swishing the contents one again, "Is water from a cursed spring from a region in my homeland called Jusenkyo, or the Pools of Sorrow. The reason why these pools are considered cursed is because anyone who falls into one of these pools is cursed to transform into whatever drowned in it first. From there, the curse can be temporarily reversed with warm water, but activates once again with cold water. The curse is permanent, and any who search for a cure will keep suffering escalating cases of ill fortune until the ill fortune claims the victim's life.

"Of course, like in all things, there are some exceptions to this rule. One of these is that there is a way to keep the curse permanently active, locking the victim in their cursed form until the end of their days. While this particular add-on to the curse CAN be removed, it can only be done with an artifact that was, unfortunately, destroyed years ago."

The contents of the bottle were swirled again. "This particular sample of Jusenkyo Water is a mixture: ninety-five percent Spring of Drowned Girl, five percent Spring of Drowned Wolf. The curse has also been made permanent." The ever present smile became diabolically sinister, and Ruga and Garu knew, without a doubt, that they were fucked. The man's next words confirmed it.

"Guess what I'm about to do to you two?"

And then the sounds of screaming, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth began… or rather, it would have, if it wasn't for that silencing ward set around the area. As it was, not a peep was heard.

OoOoO

"How is she?"

Gabrielle looked up from her place by Jack's bed, having spend the night monitoring the sleeping girl- she knew she had said that the brunette would be alright, but it never hurt to be careful. Harry, the questioner, was standing in the door way of Jack's room.

"Well, nothing has changed, and my diagnosis from earlier still stands: she'll be sore when she wakes up, but completely fine otherwise," she replied. "How are our… guests?" she asked in return, looking like she had something particularly disgusting in her mouth. What the shorter werewolf had attempted to do to Jack had brought back some extremely painful memories for her, so she was feeling less than sympathetic for the bastards at the moment. As it was, the only thing keeping her from giving him and his brother an altogether unpleasant "medical exam" was Harry's promise of a very satisfying, highly appropriate punishment for them.

…Well, that, and her lovers had promised to make it up to her in extremely pleasurable ways. Gabrielle felt a pleasurable shiver race up and down her spine as a familiar heat pooled in her loins- the last time Harry had used the phrase "Extremely Pleasurable", she had spent the better part of the day afterwards recovering. Luna, who only had her human constitution to fall back on, had spent a little over twice as long just getting the feeling back into her legs.

…Hmm… now that she thought about it… since they were now both different- Luna having been transformed into a _kitsune_ (her species' forest-based, Asian counterpart) and herself into a true Veela- what would happen the next time they were to get the "Extremely Pleasurable" treatment? Maybe they'll get to actually enjoy more than an thirty minutes of their shared lover's attention…?

"Gabby? _Mon cheri? Etes-vous bien?_"

"Hmm?" Gabrielle mumbled before she shook herself from her impromptu speculation. She turned her attention back to Harry, who was looking at her oddly.

"_Oui! _Never better!" she chirped, "You were saying?" she asked in return while giving him her best "I'm-so-innocent-sugar-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth" smile. Harry, not fooled for a moment (even though the sudden blast from Gabrielle's "Aura of Lolicon" had his blood rushing to places not exactly beneficial to his thinking process), correctly came to the conclusion that it must have been something sexual, and chuckled.

"I have taken care of the two brothers," he reported, "Only thing left is to bring them in for… presentation."

"And when are we going to do that…?"

"As soon as Jack wakes up," he told her, nodding toward the sleeping girl, "I think it'll do her good to see their fate… which brings me to why I came in here in the first place: I would like for you to talk to her when she finally comes to."

Gabrielle blinked. "Me? Why?"

"Because… well, Luna told me last night that Jack might believe that it's wrong to be afraid of being…" he winced here, finding himself unable to say the actual word, "...you know. For… obvious reasons, out of all of us, you're the best choice for telling her otherwise," Harry managed to explain before descending into uncharacteristic babble, "You don't have to, of course, and I wouldn't be asking this if there were any other way, but…"

Deciding to take pity on her lover, Gabrielle got up from her seat, walked over to the floundering Harry, and quieted him with a passionate kiss, her arms automatically going around his waist as he immediately calmed. When they came back up for air, she giggled and gave him another kiss, this time on the cheek. "You are so cute when you're flustered, do you know that?" she teased, giggling again at the pout Harry gave her before turning serious. "Though I don't like reliving those particular memories, this is to help Jack, so I'll be glad to give her a talk," she told him. "Besides…" A mischievous grin appeared on her lips as she pushed him out the door, "…I'm going to need her to be capable of touching a man when you turn her world inside out~!"

Harry, completely shocked by Gabrielle's words, could only get out a startled "WHAT?" before the door was slammed in his face, locking him out of the room. Back in the room, Gabrielle giggled again as she pictured Harry's bewildered face. It had been priceless, and did the job of getting his mind off of THOSE particular memories.

…Of course, she hadn't been lying, either- Harry wanted a big family, after all, and they were going to do everything they could to make his dream a reality. And if it meant sharing him with more women... well, it wasn't like and Luna and she were adverse to the company of other girls, especially the lovely Jacqueline. They would be fools not to at least try and include their beautiful hostess in their plans.

OoOoO

Jack slowly woke up to sounds of birds chirping and the warm feeling of sunlight on her face. She vaguely recalled having a dream about being protected by black- and silver-haired angels holding balls of lightning and fire and giant war-hammers. It was the nicest dream she could remember having in a while, and she almost wished she didn't have to wake up.

Then she remembered the night before, and she bolted upright in her bed, ignoring her sore body and clutching the sheet against her naked chest.

…Wait. Naked? Why was she naked? And sore?

...Weren't you supposed to be sore after… Oh no no no no no… please, gods, please don't let it have been what she thought it was…

"No, Jack, the one called Garu did not do anything to you other than give you a rather serious beating." Jack started and turned to the voice, somewhat surprised to see Gabrielle sitting in the only chair in her room (and she realized, much to her relief, that this was, indeed, her room), dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of pants made of some strange, blue, tough-looking fabric. The blonde was giving her a warm smile. "We were able to get to you before anything of… that nature could happen."

Jack breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly felt ashamed with the way she reacted; she had failed in fighting off the Rogelu Brothers, and her first thought was for herself. It should have been for her mama and if she was okay, not for whatever had happened to her while she was out.

"You should feel some soreness, but that's all- I was able to heal you of all injuries," Gabrielle continued assuring her. Jack wasn't sure what to say, so she just silently nodded in understanding.

There was a moment of silence as Gabrielle seemed to be studying her while she continued to feel like a selfish brat. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't even asked how her mother was yet…

"Your mother is fine, Jack," Gabrielle assured her as soon as the thought appeared in her head, "In fact, you were the only one injured." Then she tilted her head in a decidedly innocent manner and thoughtfully put a finger to her lips, making the entire gesture unexplainably sexy. "…Well, you and that Garu _bâtard_," she mused, "but you'll have to excuse me for not giving a damn about his well being."

Jack blinked in shock. Could she read-?

"No, I'm not reading your mind, and I don't have to, to see that you're feeling guilty about not asking about Ma's health."

"How…?" Jack was finally able to ask, confused. If she wasn't reading her mind, then how did he know how she was thinking?

"It pays to know how to read people when you're a soldier," Gabrielle told her, smiling in a strangely wistful manner that made her seem older than she really was… then the image was shattered as the petite blonde gave her a playful (and unfairly arousing) wink and added, "That, and you think in much the same way as _mon_ Harry."

"Now, on to why I'm here," Gabrielle continued, once again serious, "You don't fear the Rogelu brothers just because they're werewolves, do you?" She then leaned in, her blue eyes boring straight through her and into her very soul. "You were scared of Garu in particular, weren't you?" Gabrielle asked.

"No!" Jack told her, following her first instinct: denial, "I… I was just a coward, and I got over it." She looked down as she finished speaking in an attempt to hide her face, even though she knew it was already too late; they both knew she was lying.

"Jack." She kept her eyes down.

"Please, Jack." Her sight started blurring, and it took her a moment to realize they were tears. She blinked them back, willing them away.

"Please, tell me." She looked up at the whispered plea, her brown eyes met Gabrielle's blue, and couldn't stop herself from nodding, her tears rolling unbidden down her cheeks.

"Oh, Jack…" Gabrielle whispered. Jack heard Gabrielle get up from her seat, and kept her gaze on her bed sheets; she knew the petite blonde was leaving, disappointed in her and her answer…

…But then she felt herself engulfed in warmth, and she looked up in shock to see the other girl was hugging her.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of," Gabrielle assured her, giving her a comforting kiss on the forehead, "Everybody has the right to be afraid of something like that."

"R-really?" Jack sniffed.

"Really. Why would you be ashamed of something like that?" Gabrielle asked, withdrawing enough to look at her.

"I… I thought it was selfish. They were destroying the farm, and I had Mama to protect, and… it just seemed a little self-centered, worrying about myself…"

"It's not selfish! What Garu was about to do to you is… it is a horrible, traumatizing experience that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. To be used in such a way… leaves a scar on you forever."

As Gabrielle spoke, Jack got the impression that there was something she was missing. Something about the way she said those words, like she was visiting a particularly horrific nightmare…

Then a horrible, horrible thought occurred to her, and Jack felt sick to her stomach. "No… please, tell me you weren't…" Jack begged, not able to finish the question. Gabrielle understood what she was asking, though, and nodded, eliciting a gasp of horror from Jack as the brunette tried her best not to let her sudden fear-and-shock-induced nausea overcome her.

"Gabrielle, I… I'm so sorry… I mean…" Jack stuttered, unsure of what to say. She wanted to say something- anything- other than that feeble apology she had uttered on reflex, but… well, what do you say to a girl your own age after finding out that she'd been raped before? Nothing without sounding insincere- heck, even her apology had sounded fake in her own ears, since her first thought had been "at least it wasn't me."

"There is nothing to apologize for, Jack. It was in the past," Gabrielle told her, "Just keep in mind that I know what I'm saying when I tell you that you had every right to be scared."

"A-alright…" Jack replied with a nod, still unable to find anything to say.

"Now," Gabrielle chirped, standing from her seat and stretching, "Ma laid out some clothes for you while you were asleep. Get dressed and come on out- we've got something to show you."

OoOoO

Gabrielle stepped out of the room first, with Jack following shortly after. She immediately made her way to Harry, who was waiting beside Ma in the main room of the house, and smiled as he immediately wrapped her in a hug and kissed her. "How is she?" he asked when their lips parted.

"I think she will be fine, _mon amour_," Gabrielle answered.

"And you?" he asked, softly this time while laying his forehead on hers. He could still see the lingering pain in her eyes.

"I'm fine," she told him after a pause, giving him a reassuring smile. And she was, too- though the memory haunted her, it was in the past, and could no longer harm her.

…And, of course, being in her Harry's strong embrace helped, too.

Their little moment was suddenly broken by the sound of flesh hitting flesh, and they turned just in time to see Jack, wearing a simple house dress, fall on her bottom from the slap her mother had given her. The couple watched on as Ma began to lay into the downed and bewildered Jack.

"Of all the stupid, foolish…" Ma ranted, advancing menacingly toward her with her hand raised to slap her silly some more, "You could've been killed!"

"I had to!" Jack weakly defended, even though she knew she was in the wrong, "They had to be dealt with, and-"

"YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!" Ma repeated, cutting her off as she towered over her. Her hand came at her again, Jack flinched and closed her eyes, preparing for another painful slap… then opened them again in shock when, instead of pain, she felt the comforting weight of her mother hugging her for dear life.

"You're alive…" Ma sobbed over her shoulder, relief pouring from her in near-tangible waves, "Oh, my little Jacqueline…"

Jack just sat there dumbly for a moment, still half-expecting a slap, but her mind eventually caught up with the situation and returned her mother's hug, letting a sob escape her lips.

"…I'm sorry I worried you, mama," she whispered, before letting herself go and weeping along with her mother.

Of to the side, Gabrielle looked on with a content smile, the scene bringing back memories both happy and sad, memories of a similar, slightly-overbearing but well-meaning and all-loving mother that would never be able to see the grandchildren she had wanted so much.

She looked to the side to see green eyes shining with tears, and knew her lover was thinking the same thing. She asked anyway, though.

"Harry?" she whispered. Harry just smiled, even as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Sorry. I just… miss her."

Gabrielle nodded and hugged him, resting her cheek on his chest. "I know, Harry. Me, too," she said, offering a silent prayer for the departed Weasley matriarch.

OoOoO

"So, what was it you wanted to show us?" Ma asked Harry. After they had collected themselves from their rather emotional morning, Harry had led everyone outside, saying he had a surprise for Ma and Jack.

Harry smiled, though Ma had the distinct feeling he should have been smirking. "Watch," was all he said before taking out and ringing a little bell of what appeared to be blue glass. There was silence at first, then a soft, melodious, and decidedly _feminine_ voice could be heard from somewhere out of sight:

"You will pay for this, you motherfucking bastard…!"

Jack and Ma's jaws dropped as, from behind the large tree their guests had camped next to the night before last, out stepped two girls: a tall, curvy Amazon with long, flowing black hair that was streaked with silver, and a dainty, petite beauty with chin-length, black-streaked silver hair that curled just the slightest bit. Both had canine ears atop of their heads, golden eyes, furry tails that matched their hair coloration peeking out from underneath their maid outfits- the Amazon wearing the long-skirted version of the dress while the petite one had on a short-skirted version- black high heels, and both sported a leather choker around their necks, an small, ornate padlock hanging from each one. The words were spoken by, disturbingly enough, the shorter girl, who was seething in fury, her ears laid flat against her head and her teeth grinding to the point where it was surprising they hadn't broken yet. The taller girl, on the other hand, just looked despondent. Both, despite the drastic difference in body type, were obviously related.

As impossible as it was, mother and daughter immediately recognized these new girls: it was Ruga and Garu, the former Rogelu Brothers, now the Rogelu _**SISTERS**_.

"What…? How?" Ma asked, the first to regain her voice.

"It's a permanent transformation curse," Luna answered, walking up to them from behind. Harry pulled her into a kiss as soon as she was in reach.

"This one hopes there was no trouble?" he asked when they separated.

Luna shook her head. "None," she replied, "Ward line and anchor are set up. I just need to tie Ma and Jack to the wards and we're good to go!"

"Excellent." He turned back to his audience and, before either Ma, Jack, Chappu, or Babbo could say anything (not that Babbo was going to- he was content to just watch for the moment), held up a hand to stop them. "Now, this one knows you all have questions, but if you would just hold on to them until the end of this one's explanations, it would be much appreciated."

Seeing that his audience was willing to follow his advice, he cleared his throat and began: "Now, as this one is certain you have been able to discern by now, you see before you Misters Garu and Ruga Rogelu, though it would probably be more correct to call them MISSES Garu and Ruga Rogelu, as, for their crimes against Ms. Jack, they have been cursed using water from a series of magical springs from my homeland, which, as one can clearly see, changes the victim into a girl. The curse is permanent- the two are stuck as women until the end of their days.

"Of course the curse is only punishment for what Mr. Garu attempted with Ms. Jack and what Mr. Ruga was willing to let happen, and does not address their harassment of the premises. As punishment for THAT infraction, this one, with the help of my lovely companion Luna Lovegood, has also bound them to this property via the collars they now wear and a ward erected around this property, a ward that Luna will bind to Ma and Ms. Jack as soon as this explanation is over. This ward makes it so that they cannot move beyond this property with either of your express permissions or risk inflicting deliberating pain to themselves. This ward also makes it so that any thoughts of harming or prolonged thoughts of defying Ma, Ms. Jack, or this property will result in deliberating pain, and, in the event that both Ma or Ms. Jack should meet untimely ends, will ensure that Misses Garu and Ruga will no longer be a threat to anyone. The only way for any of these conditions to change is if BOTH Ma or Ms. Jack and Luna or this one wills it.

"In short, Ma, Ms. Jack, you now have two new maids, to do with as you see fit," Harry finally finished. "Now, any questions?" He asked. Looking at his audience, he noted their reactions were as expected: Jack was currently gapping in disbelief, still trying to come to terms that her literal worse nightmares were now virtually harmless and would soon be bound to her will, Babbo was looking on in interest, Chappu looked confused, and Ma… looked thoughtful?

"…I must admit, this works out very well for me," she mused, rubbing her chin in a standard thinking pose.

"Oro?" Harry asked as Gabrielle, who has been quietly standing off to the side, and Chappu perked up and joined the rest of the group in watching the proceedings in interest. Luna, in contrast, just smiled mysteriously, knowing what was about to happen and settling herself in to enjoy the reactions of her comrades.

"…I had wondered how I was going to keep the farm running with just myself, but now I have two extra pair of hands…" Ma continued, lost in her thoughts.

"Ara? What do you mean, keep the farm running with just yourself?" Jack asked, having recovered from her earlier shock, "You've still got me!"

Ma looked up and gave her daughter a loving smile. "No, dear, I won't," she replied, "because I want you to go with Harry when he and his friends leave."

There was a moment of silence. Luna's mysterious smile turned into a full-blown smirk as she mentally counted down. As she hit zero, the farm was rocked with three simultaneous cries of surprise:

"ORO?" "_Que?_" "EHHH?" Harry, Gabrielle, and Jack shouted, respectively.

"But... why?" Harry asked, "Not that this one has anything against Ms. Jack traveling with us, but... well, isn't this just a tad bit sudden?"

"And I can't just leave you alone!" Jack added, "What if something happens to the farm? To you? I need to be here to help-"

"Jacqueline."

Jack instantly fell silent as Ma tenderly laid a hand on her shoulder. The older woman gave her that smile only mothers can pull off- that everything was going to be alright, and that you were loved no matter what- and continued, "I want you to go with Harry and his friends, my little Jacqueline, for two reasons: first, they helped us, so it's only fair that we help them by offering our services as guides, and secondly... because it's time for you to leave the nest."

"But Mama..."

"No 'buts'! You're growing up into a beautiful woman, and, as much as I want to keep you here and safe for the rest of your life, I know that that will only do more harm than good. You need to go out there and see the world, to gain the strength and experience only journeying can provide, much like I did when I was your age. As it is, I was going to tell you to start your own journey soon, but the arrival of such nice people as Harry and his friends presented me with an opportunity, sudden as it was, to see you off with trusted company rather than just by yourself... an opportunity that I am all to happy to take, even if it means you will be leaving me sooner.

There was a moment of silence as Jack took in her mother's words, then there was a flurry of movement as the taller brunette pulled her mother into a hug, one that the was gladly returned. Jack's murmured "Mama..." and the following soft sobs echoed through the still air as mother and daughter embraced. No one looking on the scene left it with dry eyes... not even the forgotten Rogelu Sisters.

OoOoO

Meanwhile, in a darkened room somewhere... else, a certain androgynous man in ceremonial robes stood within a circle of pillars, each one topped with a crystal ball.

"Dimension ARM: Magic Mirror Ring!"

At his call, the ring that rested upon his finger activated, sending streams of magic into the crystal balls, which in turn activated their respective counterparts in places unknown. Holding the ring up to his face, he sent his request to all those watching his "broadcast."

"All of you in the Thieves' Guild... look on this image!"

Before the eyes of the various audience members, Peta's visage shifted, replaced by the image of a familiar arm: Babbo.

"Steal this! Bring it! And kill the current owner!" the man commanded, "It is the living weapon ARM, Babbo! The reward is 10 million pewters! A sum with which you can live the rest of your life in luxury!

"Get it! Get Babbo!"

OoOoOoO

X

OoOoOoO

Notes and Translations:

_Mon cheri?_- My dear?

_Etes-vous bien?_- Are you alright?

_bâtard_- bastard

_Que?_- What?

OoOoOoO

A/N: Jack Has Joined The Party! Insert Traditional RPG New Party Member Music Here!

While I'm not familiar with rape victim psychology, I must admit I am quite happy with both the little Gabby/Jack scene and the chapter overall. The next chapter will, hopefully, be much better, as we're finally getting to Volume 2 of the _MAR_, specifically the confrontation between Harry and Alviss over Babbo.

So, next time, on _Two Blondes and a Reaper_: Meet Mr. Future Zombie.

Review!


End file.
